On the vast beach in Cape May County, New Jersey, there is a huge concrete giant that attracts the tourists. That concrete giant was built 60 years ago to protect military men from bomb attacks.
Located just east of the Cape May Point Light House in what is now Cape May Point State Park, the bunker was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers during the early months of the Second World War.
According to a Web page built specific in honor of the site: “This bunker or gun emplacement was built in 1942. The round turrets on either side held six-inch guns. The horseshoe-shaped structures which can be seen out in front at low tide are Panama Mounts. These were built in July, 1941, prior to the construction of more permanent bunker, and held four 155mm coast artillery guns. A sister bunker stands across the bay in Lewes, Delaware.”
It contained heavy artillery and was manned by a rotating detail of naval gunnery crews, who spent hours on end scanning the horizon for enemy surface ships and submarines. (In fact, a German U-Boat commander surrendered his vessel just off the coast of Cape May at the end of World War Two)
When it was built in 1942, the bunker was more than 900 feet or so from the ocean, on high ground. It was covered in sod so as to blend in with the surroundings, which explains why it’s not so pretty today, with the sides exposed.
But as the tide has since changed, nowadays it’s impossible to walk under the structure as you once could.
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