Sandy Hook Sandlass House is dying. Will National Park Service agree to save it?
Asbury Park Press
30 Mar 2021
SANDY HOOK - It greets you like a ghost at the entrance to this pristine six-mile barrier spit: at once a two-story monument to a glorious past and a boarded-up eyesore of a stagnating present.
The Sandlass House, just a stone’s throw from the bay, has been coming apart at the seams since the last occupant moved out in 2012. That was a park ranger, and by then, the house was long removed from its heyday at the centerpiece of a bustling resort — one that helped the Jersey Shore establish its unimpeachable place as a summertime destination.
Most of that resort is ancient history. What’s left is the house William Sandlass built in 1893 and remained inhabited by his family for 70 years.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Susan Sandlass Gardiner, who grew up there. “When we left that house in 1963 it was in absolutely pristine condition. When we left and the (National Park Service) took over, I thought personally, as a teenager, the park service would take care of this house, treasure it and value it. I felt so good about that. And today, I would still like to see that happen.”
Sandlass Gardiner has a plan. She’d like to the park service include the house in the leasing program that is getting results at the far end of Sandy Hook, where former Fort Hancock buildings have been turned into bed & breakfasts by individual entrepreneurs.
The plan has a prominent backer.
“The National Park Service already has bed and breakfasts at Fort Hancock using residences of former army officers,” U.S. Rep Frank Pallone, D-N.J., whose district includes Sandy Hook, told the Asbury Park Press. “I strongly encourage the Park Service to consider this option to preserve the Sandlass house.”
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Here’s a brief history of the home, as previously chronicled by the Press.
1888: Highland Beach Resort is built by William Sandlass Jr., who leased the land. The Highland Beach Gravity Railroad, one of the first roller coasters on the East Coast, was the initial attraction.
1893: The Sandlass home is built from the frame of the disassembled roller coaster.
1910: A merry-go-round, pavilions, restaurants, bars and storefronts were now part of the development, which was attracting as many as 20,000 people per day at its peak.
1938: The family home — a two-story structure that originally had businesses operating on the ground floor — was moved to its current location by the Army's decree to make way for a larger road into Fort Hancock.
1950s: As the automobile, the Garden State Parkway and postwar economic conditions changed their customer base, the resort began catering to Monmouth County families instead of daytrippers from up north.
1962: New Jersey designates the land south of Fort Hancock as a state park and seizes the resort through eminent domain. Eventually, the Sandlass family would be paid $350,000, or $2.8 million in today's dollars, for the land and buildings.
1979: The now-decommissioned Fort Hancock and the entire peninsula is turned into a federal park. The Sandlass House serves as a base for park rangers who act as caretakers.
In June of 2012, the last ranger-tenant moved out.
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Sandlass Gardiner, who last year published a book on the subject titled, “Sandy Hook’s Lost Highland Beach Resort,” said the home’s electrical and plumbing systems dated back to 1941 and were in dire need of updating.
“It had to be brought up to rental code and that became a problem,” she said. “In 2011 the house was a time capsule. It was just as we had left it in 1963, when our family moved out.”
Superstorm Sandy flooded the basement, Sandlass Gardiner said, but the water never reached the first floor. Still, a hole in the roof that already was developing nearly a decade ago when the park ranger moved out has become an issue.
“The hole widened with Sandy and kept getting bigger between 2012 and 2021,” she said. “In 10 years it widened to the point where more and more water has gotten in, causing debris to come down from the ceilings and into the rooms.”
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A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not respond to an inquiry about the house from the Asbury Park Press. Sandlass Gardiner lives in Maryland now, but she has immediate family in the area and visits frequently. Five years ago, she took part in a failed effort to turn the house into a museum and cultural center.
Ultimately the park service rejected the initiative, she said, because of concerns about parking and congestion at Sandy Hook’s entrance during hopping summer months.
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"The current location of the Sandlass house is not a sustainable area," National Park Service spokeswoman Daphne Yun told the Asbury Park Press in 2016. "This location is susceptible to future damage from storm events and climate change. Furthermore, there is no safe entrance into the house in its present location, nor safe parking for the house."
As a bed & breakfast, Sandlass Gardiner pointed out, there would be no such concerns.
“Park rangers and their families lived in that house for 47 years,” Sandlass Gardiner said. “When you have two or four people there, it’s not a hindrance for traffic.”
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'Create a jewel'
So why not include the Sandlass House in the leasing program? Multiple bed & breakfasts are up and running at Fort Hancock, and a restaurant and brewpub are on the way. These are leasing success stories.
As reported by the Press in 2016, the area’s government managers determined that the home has no national historical significance — to the park or Fort Hancock.
“The idea is to preserve the Sandlass House and create a jewel at the beginning of the park that would welcome visitors to Sandy Hook,” Sandlass Gardiner said. “Somebody in the private sector can renovate this at no cost to the taxpayer and save it for future generations. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Sandlass Gardiner said there’s at least one entrepreneur interested in renovating the house as a bed & breakfast.
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“Instead it’s being managed as a ruin, which means it’s eligible for demolition when funds become available,” she said. “It would be much less expensive to have a private enterprise or entrepreneur renovate this house.”
Brian Samuelson would know. He’s done that with one of the dilapidated houses on Fort Hancock’s Officers Row. He's rooting for the Sandlass House to follow suit.
“What a great house, what a great location,” he said. “Why not save it for future generations and save taxpayer money doing it?”
Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.