Gunnison Beach

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Coordinates: 40°27′36″N 73°59′44″W / 40.460042°N 73.995484°W / 40.460042; -73.995484
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

40°27′36″N 73°59′44″W / 40.460042°N 73.995484°W / 40.460042; -73.995484

Gunnison Beach, Sandy Hook

Gunnison Beach is a beach within the

Sandy Hook unit of the Fort Hancock and the Sandy Hook Proving Ground Historic District which is the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey. It is located in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, but is on federal land managed by the National Park Service.[1][2] It is New Jersey's only legal clothing-optional beach. It takes its name from adjacent Battery Gunnison
, which visitors must pass next to in order to get to and from the beach.

History

Gunnison Beach takes its name purely out of convenience:

Nike missile defense installation.[4] The Fort closed in 1974, and was ceded to the National Park Service as a unit of Gateway National Recreation Area. Contrary to popular belief and urban legend, there was no nude bathing en masse on the part of the United States Army garrison that led to the formation of the nude beach. It was the discovery of Gunnison Beach's natural seclusion by park visitors in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to its inception as a nude beach.[5]

In 1999,

naturists per weekend in the summer months. From May through September, daily ferry service is available from Manhattan to the Sandy Hook Ferry Landing, with a free shuttle service that stops at all the beaches of Sandy Hook. Gunnison Beach is among the most popular choices, especially on weekends.[10] Part of the beach is shared on a seasonal basis with a reserved breeding ground for the endangered piping plover
, a native shore bird.

In the summer of 2020, with no fanfare or request for Public Comment, the National Park Service cut the clothing-optional area of Gunnison Beach in half. The "South Gunnison" section of the beach was made into a clothing-mandatory area.[citation needed]

References

Notes
  1. ^
    New York Times
    . Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  2. New York Times
    . Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  3. ^ Named in honor of Captain John Williams Gunnison
  4. Bergen Record
    . August 31, 2005.
  5. ^ Discussions with Tom Hoffman, the Fort Hancock Historian for the National Park Service.
  6. ^ "Laws of 1999". New Jersey State Library. Archived from the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  7. New York Times
    . Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  8. ^ Flam, Faye (July 17, 2006). "Clothing optional may not be way of historical human". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  9. ISBN 0-7524-1240-X
    .
  10. ^ "SANDY HOOK BEACH, NJ SHUTTLE SERVICE". Seastreak. May 11, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.

External links

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