Highlands Military Reservation (Middletown Township, near Highlands, New Jersey)
Middletown Township, near Highlands · New Jersey · World War II, Cold War
History & Significance
The 736-acre Hartshorne Woods Park now houses the site of a former US Army Coast Artillery post located on a high promontory near the Navesink Twin Lighthouses, occupying 224 acres. The Navesink Highlands were first fortified in 1917 during World War I when four 12-inch coast defense mortars were placed for seacoast defense as Battery Hartshorne, named for Richard Hartshorne, a settler who acquired the land in the 1670s, and were disarmed in 1920.
During World War II, two 16-inch Navy guns mounted in Battery Lewis in May 1943 weighed over 150 tons each and had barrels over 60 feet in length, capable of firing armor-piercing projectiles 2100 pounds in weight with range from Point Pleasant Beach to the east end of Long Island. The guns were manned faithfully by National Guard troops but never fired in anger during the war, and the original guns were removed in 1948.
In December 1950, the 646th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron moved to the Navesink Military Reservation with a new General Electric radar, designated P-9 in July 1951 as the ninth permanent radar site in the nation, and the facility was renamed Highlands Air Force Station in December 1953. From 1966 to 1974, the Highlands Army Air Defense Site served as the Army Air Defense Command Post directing Nike fire units in the New York Defense Area. The Navesink Military Reservation was added as a historic district to the National Register of Historic Places on October 13, 2015.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- WWII-era coastal artillery battery concrete structures and bunkers
- Cold War radar station ruins overlooking the Hudson River and New York harbor approaches
- Hartshorne Woods Park trails through wooded terrain with military history markers
- Well-preserved gun emplacements and command centers demonstrating mid-20th century coastal defense engineering
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlands_Air_Force_Station
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlands_Army_Air_Defense_Site
- https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/15000011.htm
- https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/New_Jersey/Highlands/
- https://www.co.monmouth.nj.us/documents/130/Battery%20Lewis%20Project%20Information%20Sheet_updated_nov_2015.pdf
- https://www.monmouthcommunity.com/blogdetails/batterylewis