This is the beach in Cape May Point, NJ near where I grew up. This concrete bunker was built in 1942 to protect the coast from German U-boats. When it was originally built, it was about 900' inland from the water on a patch of high ground. It was covered in sod to help it blend with the surroundings and there were round concrete turrets in front of the structure that held 6" guns.
The ocean is powerful thing and it changes the coast line over time. So by the time I was growing up in the early 70's, the ocean had moved the beach inland to erase the high ground from the landscape and leave the bunker planted firmly on the beach. At that time, the remains of the concrete gun turrets could still be seen. Those turrets are now long gone, washed out to sea.
For most of my life the bunker did not sit on the beach as it does now. But rather it sat about 15' above the beach supported on a collection of wood pilings that were sunk into the soil during its construction. The pilings were used to keep the structure from sinking into the ground. But they were never intended to hold the entire structure up in mid-air with the tides and storm surges washing in and out below. So the structure always had signs posted which essentially said this thing could fall down at any minute so don't come crying to us if it falls on you and kills you.
For most of my life the bunker did not sit on the beach as it does now. But rather it sat about 15' above the beach supported on a collection of wood pilings that were sunk into the soil during its construction. The pilings were used to keep the structure from sinking into the ground. But they were never intended to hold the entire structure up in mid-air with the tides and storm surges washing in and out below. So the structure always had signs posted which essentially said this thing could fall down at any minute so don't come crying to us if it falls on you and kills you.
But the ocean is fickle and can sometimes change its mind. And over the last ten years or so, the ocean has been dumping sand on the beach rather than taking it away. And as a result. the bunker once again sits on solid ground.
So this past Thanksgiving while we were in town visiting family, we took advantage of some terrific light and good winds and got some nice shots of the bunker as it sat in the fall of 2013. The ocean being what it is, I fully expect the bunker and the beach surrounding it will continue to change for many years to come until eventually, the sand buries it again or the water carries out to sea bit by bit leaving no trace that it was ever there.
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