Unmasked: Retro Bridge Nude Beach Plea

Image July 9, 2020 Elaine Van Develde

With the new pandemic the edict from NJ Gov. Phil Murphy for people to now wear masks otdoors, we’re thinking … it’s pretty interesting to ponder how that may work on the nude beach at Sandy Hook. Bathing suits optional. Masks, not so much … Hey, whatever works and floats your sun bathing and swimming gondola …

There are many more beach days ahead, masked or unmasked. Suits or not There was a time, though, that the clothing optional part was a cause for which a large contingent of RFH nude beachgoers fought — gloves on. In fact, it was taken to the famed Rumson McCarter bridge for a bit of campaigning. Everyone knows how that went.

Gunnison has been up and running since the mid-1970s and is currently the only legal “clothing optional” beach in New Jersey. And while alcohol is no longer permitted on Gateway National Recreation Area’s Sandy Hook beaches, and now masks, where distancing is not workable, are required, one tradition is holding — unmasking the bod, as in nude beaching it on Gunnison. It’s not the big deal it was back in the 70s. But, some traditions have a rough start. Can’t mask that. Or can you?

The Retro Pic of the Day (sent to us a while ago) is a throwback to the days when RFH students were rallying for the cause, painting the iconic bridge — the famous message board leftover from the old McCarter estate.

Gunnison is the namesake of Battery Gunnison on Sandy Hook, part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area. The area was a fort designed to protect the New York Harbor in the 1800s.

The rumor was that the beach ended up being named after the fort because soldiers skinny dipped there at the time.

For decades now, anyone who wants to sunbathe and take a swim sans suits can.

Hmmmm. Wonder if the teens who painted this message on the bridge became Gunnison regulars. Anyone? Masks up, suits down?