Discover 4 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Gateway National Recreation Area (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook Light, and Fort Tompkins. Also, be sure to include Shirley Chisholm State Park in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Gateway National Recreation Area (New Jersey).
Table of Contents
Fort Hancock
Historical place in Middletown, New Jersey. Fort Hancock is a former United States Army fort at Sandy Hook in Middletown Township New Jersey. The coastal artillery base defended the Atlantic coast and the entrance to New York Harbor, with its first gun batteries operational in 1896. The fort served from then until 1950 as part of the Harbor Defenses of New York and predecessor organizations. Between 1874 and 1919, the adjacent US Army Sandy Hook Proving Ground was operated in conjunction with Fort Hancock. It is now part of Fort Hancock Memorial Park. It was preceded by the Fort at Sandy Hook, built 1857–1867 and demolished beginning in 1885.
The Sandy Hook Light, built in 1764 and the oldest working lighthouse in the United States, is located on the grounds of Fort Hancock.[1]
Address: Gateway National Recreation Area, 07732 Highlands
Sandy Hook Light
Lighthouse in Middletown, New Jersey. The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, located about one and a half statute miles inland from the tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States. It was designed and built on June 11, 1764 by Isaac Conro. At that time, it stood only 500 feet from the tip of Sandy Hook; however, today, due to growth caused by littoral drift, it is almost one and a half miles inland from the tip. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, for its significance in commerce and transportation.[2]
Address: Gateway National Recreation Area, 07732 Middletown
Fort Tompkins
Fort Tompkins is a fort on Staten Island in New York City, within what is now Fort Wadsworth at the Narrows. Fort Tompkins guarded the landward approaches to other forts in the area from 1808 through circa 1898. The current fort was built 1847-1861, and was operational as a fort until superseded by new defenses circa 1898. It is now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. It is the last remaining of four forts in New York State named Fort Tompkins.[3]
Shirley Chisholm State Park
State park in Brooklyn, New York. Shirley Chisholm State Park is a 407-acre state park that is under construction in southeastern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bound by Belt Parkway and Spring Creek Park to the north and Jamaica Bay to the south, situated atop the former Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue Landfills. The first sections of the park opened in 2019; it is expected to be completed by 2021.[4]