A squat concrete bunker called Battery 223 sits on the sand at Sunset Beach, looking like a discarded shipping container half-buried in the shore. It was built in 1942 to house 6-inch naval guns guarding the entrance to Delaware Bay, part of a chain of defences that ran from Cape May to Fort Miles in Delaware. The bunker was sand-camouflaged but never fired in anger.
A few minutes up the coast at Cape May Point State Park, the restored Fire Control Tower 23 is open to climb. It is the only fully restored World War II coastal lookout tower of fifteen built along the Delaware Bay, and the climb to the observation deck offers a clear view back across the dune systems the towers were designed to protect.