Ryan and Fallon's First Week in Gateway

During our first week at Gateway Fallon and I worked for interpretation from Wednesday to Sunday. In our time with interpretation we were familiarized with all of the historical monuments that Sandy Hook has to offer. From there we were assigned a project to run extension cords and lights in a place called the Mortar Battery. The Mortar Battery had not been toured in over ten years and was recently renovated to make this area tourable. One of our supervisors dreams before he leaves Sandy Hook in June was to see the Mortar Battery toured and completely lit and we were able to make that dream come true. For those of you who do not know what a Mortar Battery is, it was used for protection of the New York Harbor and consisted of twelve mortars which shot twelve inch projectiles high into the air with the goal of penetrating the wooden decks of possible impending European war ships. We spent two days running extension cords and lights and properly placing picture cards of the period in the rooms where they belonged to show how the mortar battery was run and what it looked like. 

Ryan giving us a great pose in the Mortar Battery

Fallon and I then began to get comfortable here at Gateway and were given the opportunity to escort a lantern tour given by war rein-actors which was an extremely cool experience. We were there to make sure all of the participants on the tour remained safe and answered any questions that they had.

We then moved on Saturday to guide our own tours at Battery Potter (once home to two 12 inch guns to protect the harbor) and the Sandy Hook lighthouse which is the oldest active lighthouse in all of the United States. We both did very well leaving all of our visitors questions answered.

 This week we have been working with Law Enforcement and have been attending the law enforcement refresher here at sandy hook. Our duties are to assist with anything requested of us by our supervisor. More then that we are getting an in depth look into the inner workings of the law enforcement here at sandy hook and how complicated it is. We have had many guest speakers ranging from the park police to SWAT negotiators. Below are some pictures which include the correct way to approach a crime scene along with what a law enforcement dog is trained to do. Just within the two days we have gained a wealth of knowledge and have gotten an in depth look into the law enforcement of the National Park Service.