Sunday, April 27, 2008

Sandy Hook NJ


Upper part around 1976. At the time, it was possible to freely explore all the old Fort Hancock bunkers & gun emplacements, which were falling apart & clearly hazardous, & sneak into the abandoned Nike missile area. They've since been fenced in or razed. Seawalls & breakwaters have been rebuilt. One stormy day offseason, some friends & I were nearly trapped on the peninsula by huge surf & a rising tide, the small Park staff not having bothered to close the entry gates or patrol the roads & lots for any lingering sightseers. My favorite hangout, Plum Island, is off the photo on the lower left. Fortunately, this view is about the same today.

One of my regular artist customers at Pearl Arts Supply In Woodbridge NJ lived on the Coast Guard base at the tip of Sandy Hook. She was broken-hearted when her husband was transferred to Brooklyn.

Labels: ,


Comments:
Bob, the gun batteries were still open to curious teenagers like myself in 1983, when my parents drove my and some of my grammar school buddies to Sandy Hook.

I had a meeting with NOAA at SH last spring and noticed that Officers' Row still has some beautiful yet vacant homes. Perhaps the Park Service should rent some out to a conference center, spa, or something just to get them protected against the elements.
 
At some point, maybe the late 80's, I looked for my favorite creepy rat infested blockhouse & it had been bulldozed into rubble. There's ong been talk about various forms of "privatizing" Fort Hancock, most of them unpleasant to contemplate.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?