New Jersey runs out of land here, and a WWII bunker is sinking into the sea

Where two waters meet at land’s end

You run out of New Jersey at Cape May Point, and that’s exactly where this park begins.

Water wraps around two sides of it, the Atlantic on one and Delaware Bay on the other, while 244 acres of dunes, ponds, and woods fill the space between. You won’t fight the boardwalk crowds here.

What you’ll find instead is a lighthouse you can climb, war ruins you can walk through, and one concrete giant the ocean is slowly swallowing.

The third lighthouse to stand on this sand

The tower you climb today went up in 1859, but it wasn’t the first to try. A lighthouse stood here in 1823, and another followed in 1847.

Both lost the fight against bad construction and a hungry sea, which crept in and took them down. The 1859 tower learned from those mistakes.

More than 160 years later, it still throws its light across the water and guides ships moving along this stretch of coast.

Climb 157 feet for a three-water view

You climb a winding iron staircase to reach the top, and the tower rises about 157 feet before it lets you out. From up there, the ocean, the bay, and the whole park spread out below your feet.

On a clear day, you can see for miles in every direction, with nothing to block the view but distance itself. Before you start the climb, stop at the small museum tucked into the base.

It walks you through how this lighthouse came to be.

A watchtower built to spot the enemy

Near the lighthouse stands Fire Control Tower No. 23, a plain concrete column with a serious past.

Soldiers built it in 1942, in the thick of World War II, and used it to spot ships out at sea and help aim the big coastal guns. It was one of 15 such towers watching over the Delaware Bay area.

Now it stands as the last of its kind in New Jersey that anyone could bring back to working shape.

Follow the boardwalk into wartime history

A boardwalk carries you straight to the base of the tower, and you’ll pass signs along the way that lay out the area’s wartime story. The path ends at the All Veterans Memorial, a fitting close to the short walk.

If you use a wheelchair, the deck and entry level open up to you without a struggle. The nonprofit Cape May MAC brought this tower back from ruin and keeps it running for everyone who comes to see it.

Six-foot walls built to take a battleship shell

Battery 223 is the kind of structure that stops you cold. Crews finished this gun bunker in 1943, packing 20 rooms behind walls six feet thick.

Builders designed the roof to survive a direct hit from a battleship shell, which tells you what they feared was coming. Two large guns once pointed out to sea from inside it.

Those guns never fired a shot at an enemy. The only times they roared, soldiers were running practice drills.

How the ocean crept up to the bunker

When crews finished Battery 223, the ocean sat about 900 feet away. That distance didn’t last.

Year after year, the beach eroded and the water pushed closer, until the bunker ended up right on the sand at the edge of the surf.

You can walk straight out across the beach and stand next to it now, this massive block of concrete with waves licking at its base. Few things show the area’s wartime past as plainly as this slow surrender to the sea.

Flat, easy trails that suit any pace

Three walking trails thread through the park, running anywhere from a half-mile to two miles. The Red Trail is a half-mile boardwalk that welcomes wheelchairs the whole way.

As you walk, the paths curve past ponds, dunes, marshes, and patches of shady woods. Benches sit along the routes whenever you want to stop and rest your legs.

The ground stays flat and gentle the entire time, which means kids and grandparents can handle these trails just fine.

Watch ducks and herons from a blind

Two ponds sit along the trails, Lighthouse Pond West and Lighthouse Pond East, and each one comes with a blind or platform built for watching wildlife.

Step inside, and you can study ducks, swans, herons, and ospreys without sending them flapping off. That’s the whole point of a blind.

It keeps you hidden while the birds go about their day.

These ponds pull in wildlife through every season, so you’ll rarely come up empty no matter when you visit.

A front-row seat for fall migration

This park is one of the great rest stops on the bird highway. Huge numbers of migrating birds pass through, and fall brings the biggest crowds of them.

Head to the Hawkwatch platform, a favorite perch for watching birds of prey ride the wind overhead. Monarch butterflies drop in too, pausing here on their long trip south.

Birdwatchers drive in from far away just to catch this show, so you’ll be in good company when you go.

A wild beach the crowds skip

The beach here runs quieter than the main strip down the way. Soft sand stretches along the shore, and low dunes line the back of it.

Look out over the water and you may catch dolphins cutting through the waves just offshore. This is a spot to walk slowly, sit a while, or watch the water do its thing.

The whole setting feels a world apart from the noise and bustle of a packed boardwalk.

From army base to public park

This land once served as an active military base. During World War II, it buzzed with soldiers and the defenses they built to guard the coast.

When the war ended, crews pulled out the guns and tore down many of the buildings. The state stepped in and turned what remained into a park for everyone to enjoy.

Today the towers and the bunker still stand, no longer weapons of war but open-air lessons in history you can walk right up to.

Visiting Cape May Point State Park in New Jersey

You’ll find this park at the southern tip of New Jersey in Cape May Point, and getting in won’t cost you a dime, since admission is free.

Cape May MAC runs both the lighthouse and Fire Control Tower No. 23, so plan to climb on their schedule.

Hours, tower and lighthouse climb times, and trail access can shift with the season, so check the official website before you drive out. That quick look ahead saves you from a locked gate.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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