Sandy Hook revisited

Much like Morristown National Historical Park, I have been visiting the Sandy Hook area of Gateway National Recreation Area since I was a kid, but never went there specifically for its role in the National Park System. My family used to go down there to swim all the time when my brother and I were kids - there were no gaudy boardwalks and piers to distract us from the ocean (which was probably very convenient, since I was - and perhaps still am - one of those kids who insisted their parents buy them something at every possible opportunity), and it's essentially the northernmost and thus closest expanse of beach along the Jersey shore.

Patrick and I went down on Monday, June 14 - it's generally a good idea to do all of one's shore-visiting on a weekday, because weekends get pretty ridiculous (Pat said that, when he came into New Jersey on June 12, it was the first time he'd ever heard a radio traffic report on a weekend - it was most likely for shore traffic).

Gateway National Recreation Area has sections both in New Jersey and New York; the Sandy Hook unit is the only one in New Jersey, and in New York it has areas on the southern shore of Staten Island and in Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn and Queens. I've never been to either of the New York areas, mostly because they're a pain in the ass to get to. Sorry, New York, but that's just the way it is.


When we arrived at Sandy Hook, we were slightly bummed to find that our annual pass didn't get us into the park for free, though it did reduce the parking fee from $10 to $5. If I remember correctly, the park only charges this fee during the summer months, because it employs lifeguards at the beaches - so it's understandable (the money to pay the lifeguards has to come from somewhere). We made our first stop at the main visitors' center just inside the park, got a ton of information about pretty much anything we'd need to know, and set off for sights down the peninsula.

The basic history of Sandy Hook is that it has always been a series of fortifications and has always played a role in US military history. While there were no forts at Sandy Hook during the American Revolution, when British ships sailed right past the little spit of land and easily took New York City, the Americans decided that, in case another war should happen, they should fortify the peninsula. The area also avoided attack during the War of 1812, but Americans had been sufficiently spooked and decided to build a permanent fort there.

In 1859, the army started building a concrete fort there, but soon heavy artillery was introduced to warfare and would easily crumble concrete forts (and even more modern structures; a giant gun - or, what non-military people like me would call a cannon - sits at the end of "Officers' Row" at historic Fort Hancock, and apparently it has only been fired once. It was a test firing, and it blew out every pane of glass of every building at the fort. Oopsie!).

As time went on, military technology got more and more advanced, and since New York was America's most important port, Sandy Hook got the best of the best in artillery. From a concrete battery with hydraulic "disappearing guns" (the guns would rise out of a camouflaged, dune-like battery, fire a projectile, and lower back into the battery for reloading) to America's first mortar battery, Sandy Hook is like a museum of military fort history. The site was named Fort Hancock in 1895.

Between 1896 and 1909, seven batteries were built at Sandy Hook. This is all well and good, and makes for interesting history, but what I find most fascinating about Sandy Hook is that, because the fort sat empty and unused for a long time (and many of the batteries sat unused even longer; once they were determined obsolete, even though the fort was in some use until the 1970s, many had been abandoned much earlier), the batteries were left to the salt air and sand. Many are full of vines, the cement crumbling, pits filling with sand and sea water. They are ready to crumble away. And I like it that way. It's beautiful. Once I load my pictures you will see what I mean.

During the Cold War, the fort was equipped with air missiles, but soon enough the Nike Air Defense System was made obsolete by ballistic missiles. The base was deactivated on August 15, 1974, and the entire fort shut down on December 31, 1974, and its lands were transferred to the NPS.

So, all that history mumbo-jumbo being said, we explored the fort. Since it was a Monday, the place was generally quiet, and some buildings that would have been open on the weekends were closed. We were, however, able to go to the top of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, which is actually America's oldest existing lighthouse. No shit! Even I was surprised to learn that; you'd think, as a proud New Jerseyan, I'd have that kind of fact at the tip of my tongue. It was built in 1764, and while it was the fifth lighthouse in the country, the other four have been destroyed. This one's still trucking, though. Sure, it's not the prettiest lighthouse in the world, but it's ours and it's super old!

Another funny thing about the Sandy Hook lighthouse is that, when it was built, it was right on the coast. Now, however, it's a mile and a half inland. This is because Sandy Hook is a "spit beach;" ocean currents traveling north drop off loads of sand on the end of Sandy Hook, and this has caused the peninsula to grow a mile and a half in the 250-ish years since the lighthouse was built. Oopsie again!

Other than the historical pokings-around, we were sure to take a jaunt to the ocean. It feels like forever since I've been to the beach. Going down the shore as often as possible is a sheer necessity when you've grown up in New Jersey. These last few years, however, I've not gotten to spend nearly enough time at the beach - and here I am, about to leave town again. But I got to get my feet wet, and admittedly the water was damn cold, so even though it was a little muggy on the day we were at Sandy Hook, we skipped swimming to head home in air conditioning instead.