SUNSET BEACH — On Aug. 7, a major step was taken in the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts’ (MAC) restoration efforts for Fire Control Tower No. 23 near Delaware Bay on Sunset Boulevard, Lower Township.
An access hole was cut to allow MAC’s architects, Holt Morgan Russell, to complete studies of New Jersey’s last remaining restorable World War II tower.
The tower was part of the Harbor Defense of the Delaware system known as Fort Miles. Access was gained by cutting through the concrete blocking the entry.
Built in 1942, the tower was one of 15 towers that helped aim batteries of coastal artillery, stretching from North Wildwood to Bethany Beach, Del.
Four were in Cape May County. Towers were located in North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, but they were torn down. A third tower is located inside Cape May’s Grand Hotel, Beach and Philadelphia avenues.
Fire Control Tower No. 23 is on land owned by the Cape May Point State Park.
The tower was listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on May 29, 2003 and on the National Register on Nov. 17, 2003.
MAC is planning restoration of the exterior of the concrete tower, rehabilitation of the interior to permit public access, and site improvements to protect the site’s sensitive natural environment.
MAC signed a 20-year lease with the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, Department of Environmental Protection in June 2004, which will allow MAC to fully restore the structure, interpret its important history and eventually open it to the public.
Construction work for the first phase of this project is scheduled to begin in May 2008.
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