Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sandy Hook & Around
At the northernmost tip of the Jersey Shore is the
Sandy Hook Gateway National
Recreation Area
( 718-354-4606)
, a 7-mile sandy barrier beach at the entrance to New
York Harbor. You can see the city skyline from your beach blanket on clear days, which
only heightens the sense of pleasure and feeling of dislocation. The ocean side of the
peninsula has wide, sandy beaches (including a nude beach, the only legal one in NJ, at
Gunnison Beach) edged by an extensive system of bike trails, while the bay side is great
for fishing or wading. The brick buildings of the abandoned coast-guard station,
Fort
Hancock
( 1-5pm Sat & Sun)
, house a small museum. The
Sandy Hook Light-
house
, which offers guided tours, is the oldest in the country. Bug spray is recommended
as biting flies can be a nuisance at dusk.
Highlands; return $45)
, runs between Sandy Hook (and the Highlands) and Pier 11 in
downtown Manhattan or East 35th St, NYC.
Long Branch, Asbury Park & Ocean Grove
Sanitized and slightly generic compared to other shore locations,
Long Branch
is the
first major beach town south of the Highlands. Just a bit inland from here is the famed
Monmouth Park Race Track
( 732-222-5100;
www.monmouthpark.com
; grandstand/club-
house $3/5; 11:30am-6pm May-Aug)
, where you can see thoroughbred racing in a gra-
cious, historic setting.
Just south of Long Branch, massive homes the size of museums in the community of
Deal
are worth gawking at. However, once you cross over Deal Lake into
Asbury Park
,
luxury gives way to abandoned row houses and potholed streets. But the town, which ex-
perienced passing prominence in the 1970s when Bruce Springsteen 'arrived' at the
Stone Pony
( 732-502-0600; 913 Ocean Ave)
nightclub and then a major decline, has
been revitalized. Led by wealthy gay men from NYC who snapped up blocks of forgot-
ten Victorian homes and storefronts to refurbish, the downtown (the liveliest on the
shore), which includes several blocks of Cookman and Bangs Aves, is lined with charm-
ing shops, restaurants, bars and a restored art-house cinema. The sprawling
Antique Em-
porium of Asbury Park
(
732-774-8230; 646 Cookman Ave;
11am-5pm Mon-Sat &
noon-5pm Sun)
has two levels of amazing finds.
The town immediately to the south,
Ocean Grove
, is a fascinating place to wander.
Founded by Methodists in the 19th century, the place retains what's left of a post-Civil
War revival camp called
Tent City
- now a historic site with 114 cottage-like canvas
