The Sandy Hook lighthouse is the oldest operating lighthouse in the United States. It’s located in the New Jersey portion of Gateway National Recreational Area. Popularly known as Sandy Hook. Its entrance is in Highlands NJ. The recreational area is a peninsula that separates the bay from the ocean.
I was fortunate enough to capture these two images of ospreys at Sandy Hook. They make their habitat in the chimneys of Officer’s Row. Every once in a while I could detect the movement of the top of the heads of the baby birds in one of the nests.
They are fish eating birds and are known to span more than 5-and-a-half feet wing tip to wing tip. They are hawks and are sometimes called sea hawks along the coast.
Officer’s Row on Sandy Hook as viewed from the parade ground, which was the backyard for the officers assigned here. Their front view was of the bay.
Part of the old Fort Hancock, they’ve been trying to lease the buildings in exchange for renovation since 1975 but they had deteriorated so much there’ve been few takers. But several have been renovated and an investor has proposed renovating all the remaining buildings along Officer’s Row.
A man rides his bicycle on a path that follows the shore of Sandy Hook Bay directly across from Officer’s Row. This would be the view the officers and their families would have looking out their front doors and windows.
While I snapped this photo before sundown, it’s one of the few locations along the east coast where one can enjoy a sunset over the water.
If you look closely at the upper right corner of the photo you can see a U.S. Navy ship docked at U.S. Navy Weapons Station Earle. The pier is just a tad shy of three miles long and naval ships are reloaded with ammunition here.
All photos copyright Gary Baumgarten
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