Sandy Hook has the most northern ocean beaches on the Jersey Shore. It's easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway (about 20 minutes south on Route 36 from Exit 117) and by ferry from Manhattan. If you're driving, plan to arrive early; the beaches and parking lots fill up early on weekends.
Sandy Hook has seven miles of beaches and Sandy Hook Bay is one of the prime spots for windsurfing on the East Coast. There are also parks, historic sites, salt marshes, hiking trails, and a maritime forest for exploring. It also offers educational programs. The New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, for example, conducts research and offers guided programs and teacher workshops on the marine environment throughout the year.
There is also a bird observatory and the Sea Gull's Nest restaurant.
Sandy Hook is a unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, which includes Jamaica Bay and Staten Island –altogether covering 26,000 acres. The area was long known as the "Gateway to America."
Cost: A daily parking pass is $10; a season pass is $50, or $25 for senior citizens with a $10 Interagency or Golden Age senior passport. Season passes are available at the ranger station; daily and season passes are available at the toll plaza at the park entrance. Pedestrians and bicyclists may enter free. Parking charges are for visits between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Admission to the park and historic sites is free; beachgoers are required to purchase parking permits in order to enter the beach areas from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The NJ Transit bus line 834 provides service to the park entrance. Ferries run between New York and Sandy Hook, weekends only. A shuttle bus is available from the boat pier to all six beach areas.
Lifeguards are on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at the five oceanside beach areas — C, D, E, G (Gunnison Beach) and North Beach. There is no lifeguard at beach area B. Parking, concessions, restrooms and outdoor showers are available at each of the sites, but may require a trek across hot sand to reach.
South Gunnison Beach is clothing-optional and is somewhat removed from the rest of the park.
Surfing and windsurfing: Popular spots for these sports are the oceanside and bayside of Areas B and C.
Fishing is permitted in all areas except where swimming is permitted. Night fishing is permitted with a $50 annual fishing permit. The permit is available at the Visitors Center (open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and at the ranger station, which is open 24 hours.
Biking, skating, walking or jogging is permitted along a trail that intersects the peninsula.
The park museum at the Fort Hancock Historic District is open from 1 to 5 p.m.on weekends.
The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, with tours led by the New Jersey Lighthouse Society and park volunteers, is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on weekedays and noon to 5 p.m. on weekends.
The Audubon Society of New Jersey, operator of the Sandy Hook bird observatory at Fort Hancock, conducts tours and programs throughout the season. The park is home to the largest and oldest forest of holly trees along the East Coast and is a nesting area for several species of rare birds, including piping plovers. The observatory is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m Sundays. Call (732) 872-2500.
The park and beach areas can attract more than 20,000 visitors on a weekend. The beach crowd — heaviest on weekends between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — can back up traffic along Route 36 in the Bayshore and on Ocean Avenue. On busy summer days, the park advises visitors to arrive early. When its capacity is reached, the park refuses entry.
For more information on the park's daily schedule of programs and activities, call (732) 872-5970 or log on to http://www.nps.gov/gate.
Facts
Location: Sandy Hook is a peninsula at the northeastern tip of Monmouth County, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Sandy Hook Bay to the west.
Size: 1,665 acres
Population: Year-round staffing at the park is 55.
History
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano, a Florentine sailing for France, happened upon the Sandy Hook area while searching for a shortcut to Asia. But although it aroused little notice in 1609, the more important voyage of discovery was by the Half Moon under Henry Hudson.
Construction of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in the United States, was completed in 1764. Twelve years later Colonists dismantled the lighthouse to increase the difficulty British navigators would face. The British eventually landed and rebuilt the lighthouse.
Sandy Hook had been the site for fortifications since the American Revolution, and in 1859, work began on Fort Hancock. By 1899, 34 buildings had been completed. Until 1919, the fort was used as an artillery range; it was the Army's first proving ground.
The Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory was dedicated in 1961. The lab, at the tip of the Hook, is housed in a former Army hospital built in 1899.
Sandy Hook State Park opened in 1962, and two years later the lighthouse was declared a National Historic Landmark.
The park's name became Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook in 1972.
Just in case
Nearest hospitals: Riverview Medical Center, 1 Riverview Plaza, Red Bank, (732) 741-2700 or Bayshore Community Hospital, 727 N. Beers St., Holmdel, (732) 739-5900. In an emergency, dial 9-1-1.
