Jersey Shore Magazine

j e r s e y s h o r e • S p r i n g 2 0 1 7 73 continued on page 74 Sandy Hook's very first vacation rent- al in an historic home along Officer's Row in Fort Hancock, knows this feeling well. A resident of California who grew up in Rumson, he moved in last summer while writing and directing a documentary about Asbury Park's former Upstage Club. He ended up staying through the winter. "I was like Omega Man. It was just me and herds of deer. It was really unique." But even the summer season afforded unique opportunities once the gate closed at night. "It was like having a private six mile stretch of beach with an extraordinary view of the New York skyline. I would take my dog up the battery and look at the lights twinkling." Jones's experience was made possible by the foresight, determina- tion, and unwavering commitment of Brian Samuelson of Atlantic Highlands, who leased and reno- vated the 5,715-square-foot dilap- idated duplex at 21 Officer's Row and transformed it into a modern, attractive vacation rental. Built in 1939, the home is one of eighteen buildings, originally all lieutenants' or captains' quarters of the former Fort Hancock, that stand majestically along Officer's Row and afford stun- ning, unobstructed views of sunsets over Sandy Hook Bay. The building's renovation was not easy and could easily be called a labor of love. A former Air Force officer, whose father was an Air Force master sergeant, Samuelson was attract- ed to the project primarily for the Hook's military history. "A friend saw an article in the New York Times that Fort Hancock buildings would be available to the public. I went to Sandy Hook as a child. And as a Boy Scout, I had camped here. I'd always had an interest in real estate so I came out with my dog and thought, 'what an awesome thing this could be.'" Despite its unimposing geography, Sandy Hook, named "Sant Hoek" by the Dutch for "spit of land," has always played a key strategic role in the safety and defense of our coun- try due to its location at the mouth of New York Harbor. Sandy Hook Lighthouse, built in 1764, is the nation's oldest surviving lighthouse. (Originally it stood five hundred feet from the shore but is now one and half miles from the Hook's tip due to beach "growth" from littoral drift. One can see it from the back win- dows of Samuelson's rental.) In fact, in 1776, the lighthouse withstood cannon fire from Benjamin Tupper of the Continental Army, who was attempting to destroy the light's ability to aid British ships to shore. The Hook was occupied by the British for the remainder of the Revolutionary War and it is said Sandy Hook remained in the hands of the British for longer than any other location. "I took my son across to the lighthouse and I told him, 'That's the last thing the British gave up when they left,'" comments Jones. In 1806, landowner Richard Hartshorne transferred most of northern Sandy Hook to the Federal Government for military use, and over the next two centuries, the evo- lution of its installments reflected the current state of warfare. From a wooden fort during the War of 1812; to a Proving Ground, concrete gun batteries, and the establishment of Fort Hancock during World Wars I and II; and finally, as a home to Nike surface to air nuclear missiles from 1954 until decommissioning in 1974. Today, an active station of the U.S. Coast Guard remains as well as the Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) magnet high school. The majority of Fort Hancock's yellow brick buildings, designed in the Colonial Revival Style, were built between 1898 and 1910. With a peak population of seven thousand sol- diers during World War II, the "Army Town" at one point included a bak- ery, hospital, water pumping station, stables, jail, laundry and tailor shop, gymnasium (complete with a four- lane bowling alley), two fire houses, and four mess halls. The Works Progress Administration oversaw the construction of a three hundred-seat movie theater in 1933, a gas station in 1936, and five new officer's quar- ters in 1939. Samuelson's rental is obviously one of the WPA projects and was built alongside the other homes on Officer's Row. An outstanding archi- tectural landmark, the Row is unique in that unlike traditional Army posts, the fronts of the officers' houses do not face the Parade Ground, they instead face the Bay—a wonderful The kitchen.

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