Daytrip Sandy Hook, NJ

Today we snuck down to Gateway National Park at Sandy Hook. We saw the Lighthouse, took a driving tour of Fort Hancock, and saw the sunset from the beach.

It was lovely. 

But 15 minutes into town when I stopped for gas and realized I forgot the stroller at the beach. PANIC. Luckily it was still there when we went back, heh.

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Originally, I'd planned to only go 30 minutes to Cheesequake, but the boys were asleep when we arrived. I checked the map to look for coffee (ok, Dairy Queens) and saw we were close to Gateway National Recreation Area on Sandy Hook! But, it was a 30 minute drive... Not finding any DQs, I went for it. 

The island is a 10-kilometer-long spit in the Atlantic. It's almost perfectly North-South-oriented so the sun would come up perfectly over the ocean (#bucketlist). As it was near sunset, it flashed off Raritan Bay and made the ocean clouds start to turn the color of orange sherbet. It was so windy, and very cold (30⁰F), but still there were people surfing and lots of people with their dogs! Oh, and deer. This surprised me as the vegetation on either side of the skinny spit is not particularly thick. 

We took a driving tour of historic Fort Hancock! The buildings are drab (which should be Army lingo, its so appropriate most of the time) and a lot are on the brink of falling down. A central building, that looks like a church or mess hall, is completely missing its roof. Houses on Officer's Row are propped up by huge 2x4s. 

I had to stop, First, at the Lighthouse. The Sandy Hook Light, built in 1764, is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States and sits in the middle of the fort. Everything is closed for the Pandemic, so I'll have to climb it another time. It has an 1857 Fresnel lens, but it's electrically lit now. The Lighthouse Keeper's Quarters was built in 1883 and now serves as a museum. 

The Fort itself was planned by Captain Robert E. Lee, of the Army Corps of Engineers. Constructed from 1857-1867, it was incomplete but servicable. It went through a couple of iterations over the years and was decommissioned in 1974. 

Originally the fort dad one barbette* of cannon totaling 173 guns on three seacoast fronts, with another 39 guns covering the landward approaches. The mortar battery was designed to place the mortars as closely together to fire at a ship like a shotgun. The battery had four pits in a square arrangement, with four mortars per pit, also in a square. The battery would become obsolete with the advent of airplanes: they could just bomb them from the air. 

(This is all you could see from the road.)

(This is what I would see as a Time Lord.)

The drive out took us down Officer's Row. A beautiful view from the decrepit two-story houses that had to be the best military appointments I could ever ask for. 

It really was a beautiful drive. On the way back I had a great view of the Twin Lighthouses (also on my Post Pandemic #bucketlist). 

More information on Sandy Hook and the Jersey Shore:

https://www.visitnj.org/nj-family-fun/sandy-hook-unit-gateway-national-recreation-area

https://www.visitnj.org/nj-attractions/sandy-hook-lighthouse

https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/historyculture/sandyhookmaritime.htm

https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/new-york-national-parks/gateway-national-recreation-area-park-at-a-glance/gateway-national-recreation-area-military-sites/gateway-national-recreation-area-military-sites-at-sandy-hook/gateway-national-recreation-area-mortar-battery-at-fort-hancock/

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hancock,_New_Jersey

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nj-water/science/sandy-hook-gateway-national-recreation-area-study