An American Forts Network historical website

Highlands Military Reservation Hartshorne Woods Park Middletown, New Jersey (1917 - 1920, 1940 - 1974)

N 40°23.418 W073°59.522

NEW TO THIS SITE:
References of guns/carriages to Mark Berhow's "American Seacoast Defenses:
A Reference Guide" Second Edition, CDSG Press 2004, which will aid you in your
personal research.

Note on GPS coordinates for most of the featured sites:
I used WGS 84 except were noted by "USCGS" or "USACE."
Those marked "USCGS" or "USACE" use NAD 83 and are listed at
http://www.geocaching.com/mark/.
The accuracy between WGS 84 and NAD 83 is slightly off,
but should not cause you any difficulties in finding locations
since many GPS devices allow you to switch between them.

Hartshorne Woods Park (pronounced "harts-horn") is a 736 acre Monmouth County Park. Located at the Rocky Point section of this park, is the site of a US Army Coast Artillery post and later a Highlands Army Air Defense Site (HAADS) connected to nearby Fort Hancock. The former military base occupied 224 acres on a high promontory near the Navesink Twin Lighthouses. Located here is Battery Lewis and its Protected Switchboard Room (also called the Plotting and Spotting Room or PSR), Battery 219, and a Fire Control Station. When the Coast Artilley disbanded, the site became the home of the NIKE-Hercules control center for the missile batteries and radar systems established on Sandy Hook. Nothing remains of this control center except an empty field. A mortar battery, Battery Hartshorne (1917 - 1920) is located at the nearby Henry Hudson High School, but it is now buried. {see "American Seacoast Defenses" 2nd Ed. page 134}

Satellite Images of Rocky Point
courtesy of Microsoft TerraServer

* Official Link to Hartshorne Woods Park *

Launched: May 30, 2006

last updated: 7 February, 2008