From Captain Kidd to Cold War Nukes: The Hidden History of Sandy Hook, NJ

Sandy Hook has to be one of the most unique beach areas in the country. Beyond the six-mile long peninsula offering both oceanfront and bayfront beaches, the Jersey Shore spot in northern Monmouth County offers something for history nerds, birders, seal-watchers, bikers, runners, and military buffs alike.

Having grown up in Middletown but spending most of my down-the-Shore time at Ortley Beach, I didn't appreciate all that Sandy Hook had to offer until I moved out of New Jersey. Whenever I head back home now, though, it's a must-stop.

Here are seven things you probably didn't know about Sandy Hook at Gateway National Recreation Area along with three things you probably did.

Sandy Hook Houses Largest Maritime Holly Forest on the East Coast

Sandy Hook has nearly 300 acres of American holly, making it the largest maritime holly forest on the East Coast. Some of the trees in this unique, old growth forest date back nearly 200 years.

Don't think about plucking a branch as a souvenir, though. New Jersey state law bans it. A statute specifically lists holly as protected vegetation. Holly is notoriously a slow growing plant and the forest at Sandy Hook is under threat because of sea level rise.

Abide by the "leave no trace" ethos of the park, void the $10 to $100 fine from the state and leave the holly where it is.

Mass Grave of British Soldiers Was Found at Sandy Hook

The Union Jack flying above a monument on Sandy Hook remembers 14 members of the British Navy whose remains were discovered there.

In December of 1783, the Revolutionary War had recently ended, and the British ships stationed in New York harbor were about to return home. A pair of soldiers went AWOL and were believed to have escaped to Sandy Hook. A party of sailors sent to find the deserters became caught in a snowstorm in Sandy Hook Bay. The blinding conditions made it impossible to see that they were very close to land. They died after being exposed to the elements overnight.

The 14 dead soldiers were buried in a mass grave.

Paranormal Investigators Ghosts on the Coast detailed the tragedy in the clip below. (They also tried to communicate with British officer Lt. Hamilton Douglass Halyburton, whom the memorial is named after.)

Captain Kidd's Lost Treasure May Be Buried at Sandy Hook

Notorious Pirate Captain William Kidd and his men robbed many a ship but where his bounty might be hidden remains a mystery. Some of Kidd's men are rumored to have settled down in the Bayshore once they decamped from the pirate life.

Some have speculated Captain Kidd's treasure didn't stray too far from the Bayshore. Legends have placed the riches -- anywhere between 40,000 to 400,000 British pounds -- in Cliffwood Beach or Sandy Hook.

"In a meadow on Sandy Hook stands a lone pine. Kidd is supposed to have buried treasure under this tree," historian Ernest Wyckoff Mandeville wrote in the 1927 book The Story of Middletown: The Oldest Settlement in New Jersey.

The pine is long gone, but could the treasure still be there?

Revolutionary War-Era Village Called Refugee Town Formed Around Lighthouse

During the Revolutionary War, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse was a flash point given its importance to navigation in the New York Harbor. The Patriots tried to gain control over the lighthouse, but it ultimately remained in Loyalist hands.

An ad-hoc village sprung up at the site, drawing both wartime opportunists and Loyalists, many of whom were formerly enslaved people. The village was called Refugee Town. Raiding parties on Patriot strongholds were often launched from this spot on Sandy Hook.

It was such a thorn in the side of the Patriots, that the New Jersey Gazette at the time derisively referred to Refugee Town as the place "where horse thieves resort," according to a 1995 article by Michael S. Adelberg in the U.S. Lighthouse Society's The Keeper's Log.

Victim of First Recorded Murder in America May Be Buried There

Henry Hudson and the crew of the Half Moon explored Raritan Bay before sailing the river that would eventually bear his name. During the crew's trek through the swamps of Jersey, sailor John Colman received an arrow in the neck somewhere between Staten Island and Bayonne. He died and was buried in a spot the crew deemed "Colman's Point."

Colman's final resting place will likely never be known. Some historians believe Colman was buried in Keansburg, while others say it could be Staten Island, Coney Island, or Sandy Hook.

Cold War-Era Missiles at Sandy Hook Had 30x the Nuclear Power of Hiroshima Bomb

When the Fort Hancock military installation on Sandy Hook was active, it secretly housed Nike nuclear missiles during the height of the Cold War.

Each of the four launch pads at the site had six missiles: one four-kiloton nuclear warhead, four 20-kiloton warheads, and one 40-kiloton warhead. A kiloton is the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT firepower, meaning each launch pad had 124 kilotons of nuclear power.

For context, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had 14 to 16 kilotons. That means the nuclear power housed at Sandy Hook had over 30 times the power of that bomb.

Sandy Hook Is a Sand Spit

Sandy Hook's shoreline is continually shifting. That's because, geologically, it's what's known as a sand spit. The tides and the ocean currents around Sandy Hook Bay naturally deposit sediment to certain parts of the peninsula and pull it away from others.

In fact, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse used to be right along the shoreline. The spitification process built on the peninsula, leading the lighthouse to become further inland over the years. (Side note: spitification isn't a term that actually exists. It just sounds like it should in this context. And, honestly? I'm never going to have the opportunity to work spitification into a sentence again where it might be semi-believable, so indulge me.)

Those are seven things you probably didn't know about Sandy Hook.

Here are three things you likely do know, and, if not, you'll need to learn them to be a true Sandy Hook nerd completist.

Sandy Hook Houses America's Oldest Continually Operating Lighthouse

The Sandy Hook Lighthouse was built in 1764, making it the oldest continually operating lighthouse in the U.S.

With 95 steps, the trip up the lighthouse is quite a workout. Take a look at this sped up video the National Park Service uploaded showcasing the climb.

The views at the top are worth burning your quads out, though.

Sandy Hook Housed an Army Base at Fort Hancock

Construction on a fort at Sandy Hook began in 1859 and the name Fort Hancock was appended to it in 1895, according to the National Park Service.

The U.S. Army used the fort to test weapons. There were also several concrete batteries that were designed to protect New York Harbor. Fort Hancock was decommissioned in 1974.

The yellow officers' houses along the bay front as well as some of the former buildings of the fort remain there. Some of the houses have been rehabilitated as part of private-public partnerships, while others have been deteriorating. The site is a popular spot for passive recreation and seals are often spotted on the rocks in the bay across from the officers' houses in winter.

Sandy Hook Has the Only Clothing-Optional Beach in the Northeast

Gunnison Beach at Sandy Hook is the only clothing-optional beach on the East Coast, outside of three in Florida.

The beach is the last publicly accessible one on the peninsula before Fort Hancock. It's also a lengthy trek down the sand mat before you get there.

KEEP READING: Love learning about iconic locations in New Jersey? How about sticking in Middletown and finding out how the Evil Clown came to be? 👇