Sandy Hook Sites
Fort Hancock - Sandy Hook
Built 1892 - Declared Surplus 1974www.fort-hancock.org
Mike Casale says: "My uncle trained here in coastal artillery before joining Patton's Third Army in 1944. Fort Hancock was a large training ground during both world wars." SUMMER 2001
Battery McCook-Reynolds (1894 - 1920).
Once armed with twelve 12-inch mortars.
Entrance to Battery McCook-Reynolds.
1938 Ammunition Magazine.
20-inch Rodman gun on display.
The largest muzzle-loading cannon ever built.
Sandy Hook Lighthouse built 1764.
British redoubts were built around the lighthouse during the American Revolution.
NIKE missile park.
Battery Richardson 1902 - 1944, ammunition loading platform.
Once armed with two 12-inch guns on disappearing carriages.
Battery Richardson from the rear.
New Battery Peck (ex Gunnison 1904) 1943 - 1946. Gun #2.
Both 6-inch guns were re-installed by NPS in 1976.
New Battery Peck gun #2.
New Battery Peck gun #1.
New Battery Peck gun #1.
New Battery Peck gun #2.
New Battery Peck gun #1.
New Battery Peck gun #2.
Evidence of the conversion from Battery Gunnison to New Battery Peck.
The loading platform was raised several feet to accommodate the smaller gun carriages.
A machine-gun pillbox, one of several scattered throughout the area.
Remnants of test gun platforms at Sandy Hook Proving Ground (1874 - 1919).
Sandy Hook Proving Ground ruins.
Battery Potter 1892 - 1906.
Once armed with two 12-inch guns on steam-powered gun lifts,
the only battery of its kind in the US.
View south from Sandy Hook Lighthouse.
Mortar battery at bottom left.
View north from Sandy Hook Lighthouse.
Battery Potter and Proving Ground at right background.
Navesink Lighthouse - Atlantic Highlands
Built 1861
View looking north towards Sandy Hook.
View looking south.
Battery Lewis (116) - Highlands
Built 1942 - Declared Surplus 1949Atlantic Highlands Military Reservation history
Mike Casale says: "This is one of two identical emplacements built in 1942, each housed a 16-inch naval gun. Picture the site as a really long, big, earthen berm with one of these on each side. These guns were built to complement an identical battery on Brooklyn's Breezy Point (Fort Tilden), New York Harbor's farthest outer line of defense. Battery Lewis sits on the highest point on the East Coast from southern Maine to Mexico. The view of New York Harbor, particularly from the Twin Lights of Navesink, which is next door, is outstanding. Close by is also a small berm with an entrance on each side, which was Battery 219 (1944-1949, two 6-inch guns). This site was also a NIKE missile control center in the 1960's. According to a NJ mountain biking book I have, the 16-inch guns were fired once in 1943. Even with a public warning, the blast from them caused lots of broken windows and panic. The Hartshorne Woods in which they sit contains some of the best mountain biking around. A really nice, relatively hidden New Jersey gem. The entrance to the park is within a 1778 British Army encampment site. They waited here for the Royal Navy to pick them up at Sandy Hook after the Battle of Monmouth, to go back to New York City." OCTOBER 2001
Gun position of the battery.
Rear entrance to the gun position.