where the
JERSEY SHORE
begins
Q3 Highlands
Explore all that Highlands has to offer and you’ll want to return often.
www.sparkvisitmonmouth.com 71
A quick ferry ride away from Manhattan, Highlands
feels like an island getaway. Start your day with a
bicycle ride or short walk over the Highlands Bridge
to the Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy
Hook, a 7-mile-long peninsula with over 1,600 acres
of pristine beach and a spectacular holly forest
where over 300 species of migratory shorebirds can
be spotted.
Spend the day sunbathing and swimming on
the wide beaches or enjoy premier surf fishing.
Horseshoe Cove on the bay side of Sandy Hook
offers plenty of spots to anchor your boat and ideal
conditions for kayaking, parasailing, windsurfing
and Jet Skiing. History buffs can tour the 1764
Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the oldest operating
lighthouse in the United States, and the Fort
Hancock historic area, with Spanish-American
War–era experimental gun batteries and Cold
War–era missile sites. From Sandy Hook, head up
to Twin Lights Historic Site for a tour of the Civil
War–era lighthouse and the site where Marconi
demonstrated the commercial potential of wireless
radio by broadcasting the 1899 America’s Cup
race. Tour the museum, marvel at the massive
Fresnel lens, visit the Historical Society of Highlands
exhibit and climb the steps to the top of the north
tower for panoramic views of New York City, Long
Island and the Atlantic Ocean from the highest point
on the eastern seaboard south of Maine.
Photo by Ken Braswell, ShoreGrafx
/www.sparkvisitmonmouth.com
