Gunnison Beach, Sandy Hook

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Gunnison Beach, Sandy Hook
Gunnison Beach, Sandy Hook

Gunnison Beach located in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, is part of the Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and is managed by the National Park Service. [1] It was named for the Gunnison Battery, a fortification built by the US Government to protect New York Harbor in the 1800s. [2] Remnants of the battery, including gun emplacements, overlook the beach. It was once part of Fort Hancock, a test site and proving ground for the US Army for many years and was later the site of a Nike missile defense installation. [3]

It is, by custom, the only nude beach in New Jersey, and is the largest clothing-optional recreation area on the East Coast. [4] [5] [1] [6]

The clothing optional beach attracts nearly 5,000 naturists per weekend in the summer months. Part of the beach is shared on a seasonal basis with a reserved breeding ground for the endangered Piping Plover, a native shore bird.

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  1. ^ a b "In 39 Years, There's Little a Lifeguard Doesn't See", New York Times, July 31, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "But it was with the creation of Gunnison Beach, the only clothing-optional section of New Jersey's shoreline, that it became safe to say that Tom McLaughlin had seen everything. ... On a recent Saturday, he stopped at Gunnison Beach to survey the scene. At this Eden with umbrellas, some of the naturists were engaged in an intense round of volleyball, while others happily lounged without the fear of tan lines. A new visitor approached and asked Mr. McLaughlin why everyone seemed to be on the right side of the beach." 
  2. ^ Most likely named after John Williams Gunnison
  3. ^ "On the Hook for sun, fun -- History - and nudity - at the Shore", Bergen Record, August 31, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Nearly three centuries ago, the merchants of lower Manhattan kept losing ships to the sandbars that lined the narrow channel leading to New York City. Upset over the growing losses, the merchants banded together and built a lighthouse on the edge of Sandy Hook in order to guide ships safely to the young city. The lighthouse was so effective that the British ..." 
  4. ^ "All Undressed and So Many Places to Go", New York Times, September 2, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Crowds are also increasing these final summer days at Blacks Beach near San Diego, at Mazo Beach on the lower Wisconsin River and at Gunnison Beach in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, a dress optional sand strip run by the National Park Service that was recently deemed by the Clean Beaches Council, an environmental group, one of the top 10 beaches in the United States." 
  5. ^ Flam, Faye. "Clothing optional may not be way of historical human", The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 17, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Sandy Hook boasts the biggest nude beach along the Atlantic. The clothing-optional part is called Gunnison Beach ..." 
  6. ^ Gabrielan, Randall (1999). Sandy Hook. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 075241240X. “Gunnison Beach is now widely recognized as the park's 'nude beach,' or in sanctioned parlance, a 'clothing-optional beach.'...” 

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