Historic Sandy Hook military guard post toppled by storms

Officials from the National Park Service are trying to determine what to do about the toppled pillbox at the fishing beach.

SANDY HOOK -- Time and Mother Nature have taken their toll on what could be one of the last remaining World War II-era buildings at a beach on Sandy Hook.

The federal park -- the site of a former military installation and beach club -- once had two ammunition bunkers and two sentry boxes by the fishing beach toward the northern end of the 6-mile peninsula. But more recently, Hurricane Sandy destroyed one of the bunkers in 2012 and subsequent winter storms - including a quick succession of them this year - toppled one of the sentry boxes

Now National Park Service officials are trying to figure out whether the concrete structure that has stood overlooking the Atlantic Ocean for three-quarters of a century will remain a visible part of Sandy Hook's history.

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"We're trying to determine our best course of action of what what're going to do with it," said Pete McCarthy, unit coordinator for Sandy Hook. "That area has really taken a beating."

With limited funds, the park service has been trying to salvage historic buildings at the former Fort Hancock there, which was decommissioned in the 1970s.

The remnants of one of the ammunition bunkers still sit at the water's edge. The other bunker as well as the other sentry box are set back  a bit farther from the beach along the road leading to the ocean.

The shifting shoreline of Sandy Hook is illustrated by the drastically different widths of beaches there along the Atlantic coast. McCarthy said the fishing beach used to be much wider, but erosion had put the Atlantic Ocean at the foot of one of the sentry boxes. Hurricane Sandy eroded the base of the structure but a series of storms over the past two months finally toppled it.

Also known as a pillbox, the sentry boxes at Sandy Hook were used by the military during World War II to keep armed watch through a narrow opening in the squat cylindrical structure for enemy ships and submarines heading up the coast.

While there are still a number of World War II-era structures around the northern end of the park, half those at the fishing beach have nearly disappeared.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.