Editing Sandy Hook (section)

==Military history==
The defunct [[U.S. Army]] post [[Fort Hancock, New Jersey|Fort Hancock]] at the north end of the peninsula is open to visitation by the National Park Service. The [[Sandy Hook Proving Ground]] was used for many years—beginning after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] until 1919, when the facility was moved to [[Aberdeen Proving Ground|Aberdeen, Maryland]]—and was later the site of a [[MIM-14 Nike-Hercules|Nike missile]] defense installation. The Sandy Hook Nike station is one of a very few stations that are still intact. Almost all of the fort's gun batteries are closed to the public due to their hazardous condition. The exceptions to this are Battery Potter and Battery Gunnison. Battery Potter is open frequently for tours on the weekends, as well as Battery Gunnison which is being restored by volunteers and has two [[6-inch gun M1900|six-inch (152&nbsp;mm) M1900 guns]] installed; the weapons were placed there in 1976. Guided tours show visitors a Nike missile, the missile firing platforms, and a radar station with 1960s-era computers. A Civil War-era 20-inch [[Rodman gun]] is also in the park; this was an experimental gun that was the largest type produced by either side of that war.

North of Fort Hancock on the western part of the "hook" is an active station of the [[United States Coast Guard]]. This is one of the original Life Saving Stations built in 1848 at a site "on bay side, one-half mile south of point of Hook." The site was changed several times through the years due to a change in land or at the request of the War Department, which owned the land.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/stations/SANDYHOOK.pdf |title=Station Sandy Hook, New Jersey |journal=U.S. Coast Guard History Program |publisher=United States Coast |access-date=2012-12-17}}</ref> This area is administered by the [[Department of Homeland Security]] and is closed to the general public.