Long Lines AT&T building

During our Instructional Technology class last week, one of the groups did a great presentation on The Evolution of the Telephone. One of the topics was on Long Line Transmissions and Ship to Shore communications.

I have some deep rooted history in this area as I grew up and lived on connected property to one of the only AT&T Ship to Shore transmitting stations in the United States.The site is located on Good Luck Point of the Barnegat Bay on the border of two neighboring towns Ocean Gate and Bayville.

Most locals assume the land is in Ocean Gate, but it is actually owned by Berkeley township and is in the Bayville zip code 08721.

In 1881 Ocean Gate was known as Good Luck Point until the town was founded in 1918. My great grand father and grandfather Walter H. Alonzo were the first residents of Ocean Gate which is a small 1 square mile town that was a Pennsylvania railroad stop that connected the old wooden railroad bridge to Seaside Heights which burned down many years ago.



The two other sister stations were located in Dixon, California and Pennsuco, Florida. The Good Luck Point Ship to Shore was a high frequency (shortwave) radio transmitting station providing telephone communications to ships at sea (high-sea service) and to overseas areas under the call sign WOO.

AT&T was looking for locations through out New York and New Jersey to serve as a transmission site. They liked what they saw in the Good Luck Point site and purchased 175 acres of Berkeley Township in 1929, butted up to the east side of Ocean Gate.

My Aunt Kay worked at the site for as long as I can remember and in 1999 AT&T stopped service at ship to shore location and sold the building and property to the to Berkeley township for $1.00 and is now a wildlife refuge today. The site is gorgeous and photographers dream with fallen poles and fields of antenna.

In July 2012 I moved in to a waterfront home in Good Luck Point that stared directly across at the old site and now bird sanctuary You could not ask for a more perfect view, we could get in our kayaks from the back yard and go through the endless maze of marsh lands and enjoy the fallen ship to shore site and the new home to thousands of species of wild life.

Unfortunatly on October 29th, 2012 we lost our Good Luck Point home to Hurricane Sandy. Although I only got to live in this surreal location for 4 short months it will be some of the best memories of my life. Here are a few of my favorite pictures I have taken from my home of the old AT&T Ship to Shore site.


This is the view from my back yard looking at the pole fields and marshes.

This is taken while kayaking through the now bird sanctuary and you can see some of the large egret nests and the Seaside Heights Bridge in the background.

This photo was taken on the most gorgeous summer evening I will ever remember, how about that  amazing sunset.

For more information on AT&T Ship to Shore here are few great sites and forums:

AT&T Long Lines

No Mans Land

What are those poles across the bridge?