Standing at the base of Barnegat Lighthouse looking north across Barnegat Inlet, we can see Island Beach State Park. Google Maps tells us it is 50 miles away and will take over an hour to drive there. From a distance, the park looks like a time capsule of the Jersey Shore 200 years ago.

Few people on the Long Beach Island side of the inlet know Island Beach’s story or have even been there. Its history involves a secret military project, an environmental disaster cover-up, and the now common…