History & Culture

Army soldier Joseph Tancos camping at Fort Hancock, 1941.

NPS ARCHIVES

Gateway: an expansive park with a diverse history

Gateway National Recreation Area's three park units all trace the rich history of the nation and harbor. Historic forts, former airports, recreation areas and America's oldest operating lighthouse tell fascinating stories of defense, aviation firsts, navigational safety and healthy living. 

Access Historic Structures and Cultural Landscape Reports about diverse areas within Gateway.

View podcasts about our historic sites.

Learn how Fort Hancock's Battery Potter worked.

Explore Fort Hancock's Battery Gunnison.

Read World War II-era Army histories of Fort Wadsworth (1945) and the New York-Philadelphia Coastal Artillery system (1944). These files are very large and take awhile to download. A 1944 Army map of Fort Hancock aids in the visualization of what was once a base with over 10,000 soldiers and what is now part of Gateway's Sandy Hook Unit.

Study 1935 Army maps of all the forts which are now part of Gateway: Hancock, Wadsworth, Tilden and Totten.

HARP Volunteers working at Hangar B.

NPS Photo

Historic Aircraft at Hangar B, Floyd Bennett Field

Hangar B is the home to Floyd Bennett Field's Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (HARP). Visitors to the hangar can see dedicated Volunteers-In-Parks working on the park's collection of historic aircraft. Many of the volunteers come to the project with decades of experience working on planes, either in the military, or in the civil sector, or both. The goal is to return these aircraft to nearly original condition.

HARP volunteers are also building a full scale model of Wiley Post's Lockheed Vega, "The Winnie Mae" from scratch! The volunteers and park rangers are available to lead tours of the hangar and planes, and are more than happy to answer any questions. 

What makes a visit to Hangar B unique is that visitors can see, hear, and feel what it is like to be in a working airplane hangar. It is easy to imagine that is 1945, or 1965 during a visit to Hangar B. 

Hangar B is open to the public Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, 9 AM to 4:30 PM., and for guided tours Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 2 PM to 3 PM. For group tours, call 718-338-3799.

 

Visitors studying exhibits in the Sandy Hook Lighthouse Keepers Quarters.

NPS Photo

Sandy Hook Light and Keepers Quarters

In June 2006, the historic Sandy Hook Lighthouse Keepers Quarters opened as a visitor contact station for tours of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, America's oldest light. The $650,000 rehabilitation of the Keepers Quarters was funded by the park's Friends Group, the Sandy Hook Foundation. The main floor has exhibits on New Jersey lighthouses, while the upper floors are offices and lodging for the Foundation and the New Jersey Lighthouse Society, the volunteer group that conducts Lighthouse tours for the NPS. Click here for Hours of Operation.