New Jersey's Disappearing Phantom Tracks Are Back And Will Utterly Fascinate You
Kristen
Author
If you haven’t heard the news yet, something very cool is going on in Cape May. There’s almost always something interesting going on in the charming little town but rarely do we get to enjoy a surprise like this. A fascinating piece of history has been unearthed once again. Tides change and recent storms have altered our coastline quite dramatically. If you head to Higbee Beach before the weather once again shifts our shoreline, you might just come across a stretch of abandoned train tracks. They were last spotted this past summer but the section currently exposed is even more intact!
Why are there tracks right along the bay? Here’s the history…The tracks supported both sand mining and munitions testing during World War I. Once upon a time there were freight lines, but those were removed back in the 1980s. The tracks that still remain were once used by the Cape May Sand Company for the purpose of removing the sand from the beach to make glass or cement. Some of the cement from the area is believed to have been used to build the Panama Canal!
Seeing these tracks in person is like taking a peek into the past. If you have any photos, we’d love to see them! If you aren’t able to make it down to Cape May, you can catch a glimpse of the tracks and learn a bit more history in the video below, made by NJ.com.
For more fascinating New Jersey history, click here to learn all about the iconic “bunker on the beach” in Cape May! A treasure trove of unique historical sites, there’s also a concrete ship off Cape May’s coast (not far south from these train tracks). You can learn more about that by clicking here.
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