Sandy Hook Proving Ground

Fort Hancock is a former United States Army fort at Sandy Hook in Atlantic Highlands 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.

The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, located about one and a half statute miles (2.4 km) 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 (150 metres) from the tip of Sandy Hook; however, today, due to growth caused by littoral drift, it is almost one and a half miles (2.4 km) 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.

The Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) is a coeducational four-year magnet public high school located in the Sandy Hook section of Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade. The school offers learning in all subjects, specializing in marine technology and science. It is one of five career academies administered by the Monmouth County Vocational School District (MCVSD). MAST requires each student to participate in the Naval Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NJROTC) every year as well as an Annual Military Inspection (AMI) in the spring or fall. The school's curriculum focuses on marine sciences and marine technology/engineering. The school offers small classes with close personal attention. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 269 students and 26.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.3:1. There were 2 students (0.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 1 (0.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. The Marine Academy is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. For the 1997–98 and 2013 school years, the Marine Academy was designated a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education. MAST was selected by the Department of Education as a New American High School for the 1998–99 school year; among the many honors and awards the innovative program has received throughout its years. On April 15, 2007, in honor of the Marine Academy's 25th Anniversary, a proclamation by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders declared April 15 as "Marine Academy of Science and Technology Day" in Monmouth County.

Gunnison Beach is a beach within the Sandy Hook unit of the Fort Hancock and the Sandy Hook Proving Ground Historic District which is the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey. It is located in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, but is on federal land managed by the National Park Service. It is New Jersey's only legal clothing-optional beach. It takes its name from adjacent Battery Gunnison, which visitors must pass next to in order to get to and from the beach.

Gateway National Recreation Area is a 26,607-acre (10,767 ha) U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bird watching, boating, hiking and camping. More than 8.7 million people visited Gateway National Recreation Area in 2022, making it the fourth-most visited unit of the National Park Service. Gateway was created by the U.S. Congress in 1972 to preserve and protect scarce or unique natural, cultural, and recreational resources with relatively convenient access by a high percentage of the nation's population. It is owned by the federal government and managed by the National Park Service.

Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) in length and varying from 0.1 to 1.0 mile (0.16 to 1.61 km) wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern entrance of Lower New York Bay south of New York City, protecting it from the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The Dutch called the area "Sant Hoek", with the English "Hook" deriving from the Dutch "Hoek" (corner, angle), meaning "spit of land". For over three centuries mariners tasked with guiding ships across the Sandy Hook bar have been known as Sandy Hook pilots.Most of Sandy Hook is owned and managed by the National Park Service as the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area.

Fort Hancock and the Sandy Hook Proving Ground Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District that includes Fort Hancock and the Sandy Hook Proving Ground on Sandy Hook in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark on December 17, 1982. It is part of Gateway National Recreation Area, administered by the National Parks of New York Harbor office of the National Park Service.

Battery Kingman is an artillery emplacement at Fort Hancock, New Jersey. The Battery was named after Dan Christie Kingman (March 6, 1852 – November 14, 1916) an officer in the United States Army who served as Chief of Engineers from 1913 to 1916.

The Fort Hancock U.S. Life Saving Station, also known as Spermaceti Cove No. 2 Life-Saving Service Station, is located on Sandy Hook, north of Highlands, New Jersey. Originally built on the grounds of Fort Hancock, the area has been part of the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area since 1974. A United States Life-Saving Service station was first located in the area in 1848 or 1849. The current structure was built in 1894 about 1,000 feet (305 m) from the 1848 site. It is a 1+1⁄2-story shingle-style building with a boathouse and a four-story tower. When the Life-Saving Service was merged into the United States Coast Guard in 1915, the site became a Coast Guard Station until decommissioned in 1949. It later served as administrative offices for a New Jersey state park, and, beginning in 1974, as a visitors' center for Gateway NRA. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 30, 1981.

Romer Shoal Light is a sparkplug lighthouse in Lower New York Bay, on the north edge of the Swash Channel, about 3⁄4 nautical mile (1.4 km; 0.86 mi) south of Ambrose Channel and 2+1⁄2 nautical miles (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) north of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in the entrance to New York Harbor. It is in New Jersey, very close to the border with New York. Named as Romer Shoal Light Station, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 24, 2007, for its significance in architecture, engineering, transportation, and maritime history.

The Raritan Bayshore region of New Jersey is a subregion of the larger Jersey Shore. It is the area around Raritan Bay from The Amboys to Sandy Hook, in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, including the towns of Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville, Old Bridge, Matawan, Aberdeen, Keyport, Union Beach, Keansburg, Holmdel, Middletown, Atlantic Highlands, and Highlands. It is the northernmost part of the Jersey Shore, located just south of New York City. At Keansburg is a traditional amusement park while at Sandy Hook are found ocean beaches. The Sadowski Parkway beach area in Perth Amboy, which lies at the mouth of the Raritan River, was deemed the "Riviera of New Jersey" by local government. In recent years many of the beaches on the Bayshore area have been rediscovered and upgraded.