War Relics An exploration of Cape May’s WWII History

War Relics

It may come as no surprise, but in Cape May history is all around you. No matter where you look— north, south, east, west, up, down and all around, you’ll find some historical artifact, relic, or site. While Cape May is best known for its Victorian gingerbread houses and hotels that served sitting presidents in the 19th century, did you know that the city also played a major role keeping the rest of the country safe during the Second World War? You can go anywhere on the island and not even realize the history that lies beneath the surface. (Oh yeah, the fact that Cape May is an island has to do with World War II.) From the moment you get off the Parkway, the effects of this time period are both visible and hidden. Whether you’re driving around town, biking down to Cape May Point, or taking a walk along the beach, here’s Cape May’s World War II relics unveiled.

Below German U-Boats

Above Postcard of the Cape May U.S. Naval Air Station and Airplane Hanger, dated c. 1930-1945

Right Fire Control Tower No. 23—also known as the Cape May World War II Lookout Tower

The Canal

Did you go over a bridge to get here? If you did not arrive by boat or fall from the sky, then the answer is probably yes. If you arrived via route 109 (into Cape May City) or 162 (from the mainland to West Cape May), then you most certainly passed over the Cape May Canal. It may be hard to imagine, but before 1942, Cape May was a full-fledged peninsula. During World War I, there was discussion of dredging the area to connect the Delaware Bay to Cape May’s harbor. When the war ended, the plans were abandoned. The idea was revisited in 1935 to increase commercial trade, but it wasn’t until 1940 that the matter was brought before the U.S. Senate by New Jersey State Senator William Barbour. At that time, the U.S. Navy had a vested interest in dredging the area. The project became a part of the Rivers and Harbors Bill that passed both

houses and was eventually vetoed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But in April of 1941, the canal was approved, as it was considered essential to defense. So why did Uncle Sam have a change of heart? While the attack on Pearl Harbor wouldn’t happen until later that year, American involvement in the Second World War was becoming increasingly inevitable. A new coastal artillery battery at Cape Henlopen, Delaware, and the development of a naval air station in Cape May made quicker access between the two points essential. Travel around the peninsula would have been risky, and before the canal could be completed, the risk became real with the sinking of the USS Jacob Jones.

USS Jacob Jones

Ok, so unless if you are into deepsea diving twenty miles off the coast of Cape May, this is not a World War II relic that you’ll be able to visit. If you are into deep sea diving, the shipwreck of the USS Jacob Jones may be of interest to you (although, admittedly, there’s not much left to find). The morning of February 27, 1942, the USS Jacob Jones, a 1,211-ton Wickes class destroyer, departed New York with orders to patrol the area between Barnegat and Five Fathom Bank (a station for light vessels). German U-boats had torpedoed a tanker and the Jacob Jones was in search of survivors when they were given orders to focus on the waters around Cape

Above A declassified military map of the Cape May Military Reserve during World War II. Positioned at the mouth of the Delaware River, Cape May MR supported Delaware’s Fort Miles by provided rapid fire protection from fast moving subs and U-boats.

Opposite Top The USS Jacob Jones.

Opposite Right Path leading to the Cape May World War II Lookout Tower.

May. At dawn on February 28, 1942, an undetected German submarine fired torpedoes at the destroyer. The first torpedo struck the ship’s magazine and caused “unbelievable damage.” A second torpedo would cause the ship to sink within forty-five minutes. Later that morning, twelve survivors were spotted in lifeboats by an Army observation plane. By the time they arrived on land in Cape May, there were eleven survivors.

When the war ended, German U-boat U-858 was forced to surrender off Cape May on May 10, 1945, at the very same spot where the Jacob Jones was attacked. After the sinking of the Jacob Jones, in December 1942, there was a canal where there once was none. The jetties that exist around the cape were put there for the purposes of creating the canal.

Now that you’ve gone over the canal and you’re in town, hop on a bike and head to Cape May Point. That’s where you’ll find most of the World War II relics. One of them, you absolutely can’t miss.

World War II Lookout Tower

Technically called a “Fire-Control Tower No. 23,” historian Ben Ridings of Cape May Museum Arts and Culture (MAC) admits that the “technical” name can be misleading. “We still

get this question today- ‘why are fire towers overlooking the water?’ It was to help the large artillery guns find their target. They were helping with the firing of shells.” MAC runs the tower and looks after its preservation and historical interpretation.

The tower was originally built as part of Fort Miles in Delaware. During the war there was fear of an amphibious assault on Philadelphia, Camden and Wilmington. The way to these three cities would be through the Delaware Bay. So, Fort Miles was constructed to prevent such an invasion. There were twenty-one fire control towers built, four of which were in New Jersey. The one at The Point is the last free-standing tower, although the top of one of the towers can be seen poking out of the roof of The Grand Hotel. Fire control towers were originally built to man the skies, but when it became apparent that the greater concern was German U-boats below the surface of the water, the towers were used to see what they could spot along the ocean.

“The u-boats were a lot harder to find,” Ridings admits, since the tower only stands about seventyfive feet high. Today you can climb up Tower No. 23, where inside you’ll find rotating exhibits that highlight various topics of history. A Wall of Honor pays tribute to local residents who served during World War II, and an Eternal Flame sculpture on the boardwalk outside provides a place for quiet contemplation. The tower has been on the registry of National Historic places for over twenty years.

Below Sign outside Tower No. 23

Above The remnants of Battery 223—now known as “the concrete bunker”

While the naval base was located on the other side of Cape May, where the Coast Guard base is today, the service people who manned the tower did not go back and forth between shifts.

“There was a little separate base by the lighthouse, which is how you have that stone bunker that’s there today,” according to Ridings.

Leave your bikes at the bike rack, and let’s take a walk on the beach by the lighthouse, shall we?

The Concrete Bunker

A walk on the beach just east of the lighthouse and you can’t miss it- the remnants of what was once Battery 223, otherwise known as “the concrete bunker”. To look at it now, its hard to imagine, but the bunker was once nine-hundred feet inland and surrounded by earth and sod. There was plenty of activity happening

within the unassuming hill.

During the war, the bunker contained heavy artillery and was manned by naval gunnery crews. The seven-foot-thick concrete walls, now exposed to the ocean air, contained powder rooms, latrines, a switchboard and radio room, showers, a generator room, and more. The roof was blastproof, and the six-inch guns had a nine-mile range. While the battery’s guns were never fired against the enemy, there were drills and live fire tests that took place.

In front of the bunker were Panama mounts, which held four 155mm coast artillery guns to temporarily protect the coast until the bunker’s completion in 1942.

Throughout the years, the bunker became more and more exposed due to beach erosion. Because of beach replenishment, the Panama mounts are no longer visible, and all entrances are sealed up, so you can’t really go inside. Now that some of the mystery behind the concrete structure has been unveiled, let’s head back to the lighthouse.

The Lighthouse

Remnants of the military base by the lighthouse are still there and still functioning today. “That area by the state park, where the bathrooms and the museum are, that was all part of the base. It was a mess hall,” according to Ben Ridings. And the lighthouse itself was also utilized for the war effort. Due to blackout restrictions, the lighthouse was not illuminated during the war. However, servicemen would go to the top to see if they could spot U-boats beneath the surface of the water.

“The lighthouse is double the height of MAC’s fire control tower so it makes sense they would go up there as it would give them more height advantage and they didn’t have to build as much.”

Hop back on those bikes and let’s head down to the tip of Cape May for a walk along Sunset Beach.

Below The Cape May Lighthouse.

Background Cape May’s elusive “Ghost Tracks”. The tracks are located on Higbee Beach and only appear under certian tidal conditions.

The Ghost Railroad & the Magnesite Plant

“What’s interesting about Cape May during World War II, is that a lot of the relics we recognize today came about because of World War I,” says Ben Ridings, speaking about the Coast Guard Base, but also, the mysterious railroad tracks that appear every so often on Higbee Beach.

If you’re at a parking lot at Sunset Beach and look up, you’ll notice an old water tower. There is an entrance nearby to a path which leads to about two- mile walk around Davey’s Lake (check with the concierge for more information about guided tours at Davey’s Lake). The water tower is all that remains of the magnesite plant, built during World War II. The plant utilized the “ghost railroad tracks” that recently surfaced along the beach, which were laid down during the early 20th century.

In 1905 the Cape May Sand Company was established by a man named Thomas Stevens. The Delaware Bay, Cape May, and Sewell’s Point Line, which was the railroad that ran parallel to the ocean, was created to help ship sand from the area to other parts of the country for the manufacture of glass. In 1910, sand from Cape May was used to construct the heavy locks of the Panama Canal. It was at this time that the man-made, freshwater, Davey’s Lake was dugout for the use of the sand company. The lake is still there today.

During World War I, the area was leased by the Bethlehem Steel Company to test ammunition. The area remained dormant during peace time, but a flurry of activity would resurface during World War II. With the war came blockades that prevented the importation of magnesite, a substance that is necessary for the manufacture of fire brick for steel production. Seawater is often used in creating synthetic magnesite, and the spot became ideal for the plant. When the United States entered the war, the Northwest Magnesite Company purchased the land and began using the railroad to ship the product from Sunset Beach to the rest of the country, and to receive materials necessary for production. For many years, the plant provided year-round employment that was not tied to tourism, fishing or farming. It closed in 1983, the same year that the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore line suspended operations for good.

In 2014, a big nor’easter hit the Atlantic Coast and caused significant beach erosion. And from the erosion emerged the tracks, for the first time in years. The “ghost tracks” as they’ve come to be known, get covered and resurface according to changes in the tide. Chances are a walk along Higbee Beach today will reveal signs from the more-than-centuries-old railroad that helped keep America going through two World Wars.

Before we leave the southern end of the island, we should probably mention the elephant in the ocean...

The SS Atlantus

Ok, so the Atlantus has nothing to do with World War II, other than the fact that it was a lesson learned during World War I. The SS Atlantus was one of twelve concrete ships built during the first World War. With the shortage of steel, essentially, the government was trying to see if they could make ships out of concrete. The problem is- concrete ships were really heavy. Some called them “floating tombstones,” mostly because that’s what they looked like, but also they were rather inefficient. After the war, in 1926, Colonel Jesse Rosenfeld had an idea to start a Ferry service from Cape May. The plan was to dig a channel where they would place the Atlantus at Sunset Beach to serve as a dock for other vessels. The ship was brought to Cape May, but during a storm broke free from its moorings, and ran aground a mere 150 feet from where it had been placed. Despite their greatest efforts, the concrete ship could not be moved, and has been slowly deteriorating in the ocean for nearly 100 years. It wouldn’t be until 1964 that a ferry service would come to fruition, this time with a regular dock in North Cape May.

We would be remiss if we did not address the current military presence in Cape May. It’s not a place you can really visit, but it does have ties to World War II and its worth riding your bike to the other side of Cape May to see how the war affected the town. We must be speaking, of course, about the US Coast Guard Base.

US Coast Guard Base

“What is now the Coast Guard Base was actually started as a Naval base in World War I. Between the two wars, the Coast Guard had it, and it was shared between the Coast Guard and the Navy during World War II,” says historian Ben Ridings.

The site on which the Coast Guard base sits today is known as Sewell’s Point, which was ceded to the Coast Guard in 1946 following the war. But before the military ever had a presence in Cape May, the area was owned by the Cape May Real Estate Company and was site of an old, abandoned amusement park. In 1917 the Navy moved into the building that was once

Top Postcard of Cape May’s famous Concrete Ship, dated c. 1930-1945.

Bottom Aerial photo of the Cape May US Coast Guard Base, c. 1941. known as the “Fun Factory” and built another base across the harbor just north of Schellenger’s Landing (where the Lobster House is today). The Fun Factory burned in a huge fire on July 4th, 1918, which required the building of new barracks.

The North end of Cape May was home to a lot of military activity, especially in hotels. In 1918 the War Department leased the Hotel Cape May to be used as a military hospital. It was renamed US Army General Hospital #11 and the 600room hotel became a treatment and training facility. The Hotel was used as a hospital again during the second World War, and later in the 20th century the building would have very close ties to Congress Hall (see story on the Christian Admiral).

Between the two wars, the base at Sewell’s point was an airport, at one time used to accommodate dirigibles (simply put, military blimps). The largest hanger in the world was constructed there to house an aircraft that was under construction in Britain. But the ZR-2 crashed in a tragic test flight. The area became a civilian airport until American involvement in World War II, when the Navy came back to town and found a home for training aircraft carrier pilots.

During World War II, Cape May was home to five branches of the military, complete with a USO and other entertainment facilities for servicemen. Following the war, as four of the five branches left the island, the Coast Guard made the area its permanent home. By 1948, it became the site of basic training for the entire east coast. In 1982, all recruit training functions were moved to Cape May.

And now, if you’re willing to take a drive….

Naval Air Station Wildwood

Located about a fifteen-minute drive from Cape May, in Rio Grande, Naval Air Station Wildwood is now home to a museum that records Cape May’s military history. The airport nearby is still a functioning airport, and the museum is located inside of the aircraft hanger built during World War II. Beginning in April of 1943, the air station was commissioned as a training facility for dive bomber squadrons. For two years, naval pilots were trained in night-flying and

target practice over the Delaware Bay. A museum onsite tells the history of the 17,000 take-offs that took place between April of 1942 and October of 1944.

While Cape May’s recorded history goes back more than four-hundred years, there’s no denying that World War II had a lasting effect on the Cape May of today. The evidence is all around- in the air, on the ground, and even below the surface of the ocean. Some stories will continue to live on, while others may remain a mystery, only to be revealed every so often when a storm causes the surface to wash away, revealing a relic that begs to have its history known.

Bottom Left A hanger at NAS Wildwood—now a museum!

Below A Cape May MAC bus tour arrives at the World War II Lookout Tower. Interested in learning more about Cape May’s history? Visit: CapeMayMAC.org