Camp Hero State Park is a state park located on

Montauk Point Montauk ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, on the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2020 United States census, the CDP's population was 4,318. The ...

, New York. The park occupies a portion of the former

Montauk Air Force Station Montauk Air Force Station was a US military base at Montauk, New York, Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, New York (state), New York. It was decommissioned in 1981 and is now owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation a ...

History

Military use

The site known as Camp Hero, or the Montauk Air Force Station, was originally commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1942. Camp Hero was originally a coastal defense station that was disguised as a fishing village, and its location was chosen to prevent a potential invasion of New York from the sea. Camp Hero was named after Major General Andrew Hero, Jr., who was the Army's commander of coastal artillery and who died in 1942. Three gun batteries were built at Camp Hero, replacing most of the other heavy guns in the

Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound The Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Long Island Sound and Connecticut from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These ...

, which also included Fort H. G. Wright,

Fort Michie Fort Michie was a United States Army coastal defense site on Great Gull Island, New York. Along with Fort H. G. Wright, Fort Terry, and Camp Hero, it defended the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound as part of the Harbor Defenses of Long ...

, and

Fort Terry Fort Terry was a coastal fortification on Plum Island, a small island just off Orient Point, New York, United States. This strategic position afforded it a commanding view over the Atlantic entrance to the commercially vital Long Island Sound. ...

. Two batteries of two 16-inch guns each were built, Batteries 112 and 113 (officially named Battery Dunn).Berhow, p. 208 Another battery of two 6-inch guns was also built, Battery 216. All three batteries consisted mainly of a large concrete bunker covered with earth, containing ammunition magazines and

fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and control i ...

equipment. The 16-inch guns were protected by large casemates, the 6-inch guns by shields. In 1992, Preston Nichols and Peter Moon wrote '' The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time'' in which they alleged that secret experiments were carried out at the Camp Hero site. The book was popular with

conspiracy theorists A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

, and spawned several sequels.

Post-military use

In 1984, the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

attempted to sell the entire facility to real estate developers. Local environmental activists protested, claiming that the site had many unique

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

and animal habitats. The remaining portions of the military reservation at Montauk were decommissioned and most of the facility, including Camp Hero, was donated to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, which then turned it over to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Portions not deemed environmentally sensitive were sold off. Camp Hero remained largely undeveloped through the 1980s and 1990s. In 1996, a feasibility study was undertaken for developing the site as a golf course. However, environmentalists were concerned that the golf course would impact rare species of plants and endangered wildlife such as the

blue-spotted salamander The blue-spotted salamander (''Ambystoma laterale'') is a mole salamander native to the Great Lakes states and northeastern United States, and parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Their range is known to extend to James Bay to the north, an ...

and eastern tiger salamander, and that irrigation would deplete limited sources of groundwater on the peninsula. Although there was demand to create new golf courses on Long Island, particularly on the East End, the idea of creating a new golf course in Montauk in addition to

Montauk Downs State Park Montauk Downs State Park is a state park in Montauk, New York, Montauk, New York (state), New York, United States. The park is located in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County near the eastern tip of Long Island's South Fork, Suffolk County, Ne ...

was dropped in 1999. Camp Hero State Park was opened to the public on September 18, 2002. There are plans to create a museum and an interpretive center that will focus on

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and Cold War history inside the radar tower. Some parts of the camp remained closed off and guarded, especially the areas near the old satellite installations.

Park description

Camp Hero State Park offers picnic areas, a beach, and trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing. It is a popular surf

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

beach due to the underwater structure that tends to hold fish. Common game fish found in this area are striped bass and

bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...

. Portions of the former military installation within the park are registered as a National Historic Site.

References

* *

External links

Camp Hero history siteNew York State Parks: Camp Hero State Park

List of all US coastal forts and batteries
at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts
{{authority control State parks of New York (state)

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...