SummerFest: Cape May Tower Standing Tall Since World War II

Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook  | Twitter

CAPE MAY, N.J. (CBS) — Just a few hundred feet from Cape May's beautiful Sunset Beach sits this odd-looking tower. Go inside, take a walk up the winding stairs. Halfway up you'll find a memorial to those men and women from the area who served during the second World War.

When visitors get to the top they'll likely be greeted by former Cape May Mayor Jerry Gaffney.

"This was a lookout tower with four men here at all times," explains Gaffney.  "If those men saw an enemy ship coming in, they would call the local gun bunker to fire at the ship."

"They had many more guns so that they could crossfire the entire bay area and sink any vessel that would try to get into this area," added Gaffney.

An enemy vessel never came and the tower served merely as a precaution, but in those times it was better safe than sorry.

Back in 1942, American defense forces wanted to get the tower up as soon as possible. In fact, they completed construction in just a matter of days.

"It was built in three days at a cost of $25,000," Gaffney tells Eyewitness News.

You heard him correctly – it took just three days and $25,000 to build this tower. Seventy-six years later and it's as strong as it was on day one. Ten years ago, stairs were added, but before stood ladders. Those now-replaced ladders were used during the war.

Susan Krysiak is with the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities – the agency responsible for teaching groups about the tower.

"Even people who live here have lived here for years often don't really know what this tower is or what function is that it served," Krysiak explains.

This specific tower is called Fire Control Tower No. 23. Number 24 just a few miles away in the heart of Cape May, specifically in the heart of the Grand Hotel. The hotel was built around the old watchtower.

"Three of our rooms actually have a curved wall because they are built directly around the towers," says Danielle Muratore of the Grant Hotel.

While guests can't go inside the tower at the Grand Hotel, you can still visit Fire Control Tower No. 23. It's a phenomenal way to travel back in time and look out at the bay---as those men did almost 80 years ago.