I hope you all enjoy the video. I love NJ and am always excited to discover more of its oddities. However, one clarification; In the excitement of making this video, I swapped 1914 for 1941 at 4:59. Sorry about that!
@@charlesyoung7436 no. As a verb, the word is still "secret." As in: "I *secret* away my favourite chocolate candy so my kids won't find it." "*Secrete*" only has one meaning, and that is a verb meaning "to discharge." The noun is "secretion."
In Swakopmund in Namibia a similar block of concrete is still also there. It also anchored a radio mast that was installed there. That one has some fancy plaster, making it look like an actual building of which the windows were closed off.
I lived a few blocks away from there growing up. I heard the story about the place but never saw a discussion of the tower in such detail! The rumors were true!
Learned most of this in our first grade history class in 1981 with Mrs. Gunther. Then again in second grade with Mrs. Caffereli. And from the old neighbors that were in the fire company. Fewer and fewer people remember it (and a lot of the other local history), especially as so many new people moved in from other areas.
That's crazy I graduated in '89 and they never taught anything like this in history. Instead they just taught us a bunch of lies I went to school in a small town in Ellington Connecticut
The Tower wasn't built in Tuckerton it was in Mystic Island next town to Tuckerton. The concrete block you showed at the beginning of the vid wasn't the base of the tower it was a concrete anchor. But I am very pleased that you researched and made this vid. Thank You
@@dco2006 To include more context - Little Egg Harbor Twp is the township in which the independent Boro of Tuckerton resides. It's stupid and confusing but in this instance it amuses me because I get to shit on Mystic Island, which really just cuts out the middle man because that's where it's going anyway. ❤
@fuzzydunlop7928 Tuckerton existed before LEH. It's easy to research before commenting. Tuckerton was settled in 1699; LEH in 1740. The titles of "borough" and "twp" were incorporated much later, LEH being called a twp long before Tuckerton was est as a borough, which might confuse the issue. Once again, politics confuses actual history. LOL
"Broadcast" means from one to many just like an AM, FM, or TV station today. This was a "communications" tower, communicating from one point to another.
I grew up there and we used to play king of the hill on them blocks in the early 90s. (just the shorter one in the middle of the street.) I never even asked or wondered why these were there untill i started to work down there again recently. this was an awesome history lesson thank you.
New Jersey is an underrated state. I don't know why everyone jokes about them. I used to be a truck driver and been through there a few times. I was surprised how many beautiful areas they have. The roads and parking are a little tight but that's typical along the east coast. (I suppose I can't put my own gas too.) Thanks for sharing.
New jersey was a major area for the development of radio-telegraphy (and radio in general). Further North, where Sandy Hook meets the mainland, there was a rather high hill where a lighthouse was built. But Guglielmo Marconi, looking for a location for a radio tower that would communicate with Europe and ships out at sea, built it on that hill.
Thanks Ryan. Glad to see you read the comments and found my idea interesting. I lived on Lake Michigan Drive in Mystic from December 2000 till the day before Sandy in 2012. Dead end street and it was always quiet there, even in the summer. I do miss it but I'm not taking my chances again with another hurricane. I live inland now, western Atlantic County
I'm like "oh the Tuckerton Block." Because to me and my fishing buds, it's always been there. Just something we use as a landmark. And I thought everyone knew it was used for a telegraph tower before WW-I. Crazy the stuff locals take for granted. And in this case, some mistook it for granite.
I lived next to the Block on Ensign Drive and worked in the old power house when it was Mystic Island Marina back in the late 70's and through the 80's. Tuckerton has a small museum with a piece of the tower and the steel ball it rested on. My adult children and siblings have been made aware of your story. Kudos and thank you for the memories. Ray K
When you compare this station with cell phones, just remember, the size of the cellular network, infrastructure included, is significantly larger than this station. They built a trans-Atlantic radio system that was two-way. This is far greater an achievement than a normal broadcast station. Great video, keep it up!
What a BEAUTIFUL story....told both from a tech perspective and from an emotional point of view! Things that one would never have known if it was not for your channel being present when I was wondering.... "What the h3ll am I gonna watch at 5:55am on a Sunday morning?" LOL! I'm recovering from spine surgery (my 5th) and it would be a horrible recovery if it was not for TH-cam creators like you! Thank you sir.
One slight correction: This type of point-to,point radio transmission is not "broadcasting". Broadcasting came later. Broadcasting specifically refers to a station transmitting general interest content to anyone who is tuned in.
as a former signalmen a radio telegraph does broadcast ( unlike a wired telegraph that sends down a point to point wire) anyone with a similar reciver (very rare at that time) could recieve the messages sent as the german navy found out in ww1 . it was interesting to hear that frequency jumping (used as encription today at hundreds of hops a min ) had origins going so far back
One of the first places I went after my 6 tours in Iraq was the Jersey shore. I rented a small quite little beach house for a 4 day stay over a weekend. Mostly I used a motorized bike I built to tool around. Shortly after that I went to Lake Charles. For some reasons the author here is right. Nothing speaks for old world grass roots America like both places particularly the Jersey Shore.
In 1901, Marconi sent the first wireless radio transmission across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to St.Johns, Newfoundland. Thirteen years before Tuckerton Tower's transmission.
5:51 … it couldn’t have been 1941. The Kaiser was long dead. Was it 1911 or 1914? // Communication from the US directly to Berlin. That looks is a recipe for failure, considering the relationship that we eventually had with Germany.
Wow that’s funny, I just passed that block the other day for a job in tuckerton. Me and my friend were looking at each other like why is there a giant block in the middle of the street lol
My great grandfather was the head of US Customs in Jacksonville, Florida, when World War I broke out. At the port of Jacksonville, he struck the first blow to Germany once war was declared by seizing all the German ships that were docked there. He was very proud of this fact, and it is pretty dang cool.
There were large numbers of German immigrants living in New Jersey at the time. German companies owned a lot of businesses and had considerable influence in the politics of the state. When the US joined the allied side during WWI New Jersey was vitally important to the war effort. New Jersey was the location of major industries that produced all kinds of war materiel. New Jersey also contained large numbers of shipping ports and ports of embarkation. One million of the 4 million US troops sent to Europe during WWI passed through Camp Merit, this was just one of several transit camps located in New Jersey. When the US became directly involved in 1917 someone asked Gen. John Pershing how long the war would last, he replied, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken, by Christmas". Hoboken, NJ was a major embarkation point. Many of the shipping lines and piers in Hoboken were owned by German companies. For reasons of national security almost all of these German businesses were seized by the US government. Many of the owners were thrown in prison or chased off. After the war very few of the businesses were returned to their German owners, most being sold off to satisfy war reparations. Some of the original owners received some minor compensation, usually pennies on the dollar.
I love this channel and especially appreciate your videos in/about places in NJ. Always extra interesting indeed! What people don't know about the 3rd state is a LOT. So much history and o many great places to live, work, visit and go to school in New Jersey. And home to some of the prettiest beaches and shore towns on any coast. Thank you Ryan, Aunt Barbara adores you!
I used to design antenna towers. AM towers are unique because the tower is the antenna and thier length is related to the frequency they operate on. Obviously they had some tuning coils for the antenna length. The antenna is electrically isolated and has an insulator at the base. This foundation was raised so high maybe for electrical safety and prevent people from contacting the tower. The guy wires had electrical insulators. You can kind of see them in the photos. This was a great history lesson that really deserves a much deeper dive into the engineering background. By today’s standards the foundions are way overbuilt because they did not have all of the engineering research we have today and the computers.
We had one of those anchors on an angle, but still in the canal 10 ft from our bank of our yard, it was in our backyard, but in the water!!! I remember it was the size of a small garage, it was shaped like a house, and it had a huge eyelet in the top of it. Our boat would barely fit between our Canal bank and that thing. It was so out of place it sat on an angle, and we were the only one on our Canal that had this thing in the water. It was my uncle's house!!! I grew up in Little Egg Harbor. Thank you so much for airing this I've heard so little about those Tower anchors, my uncle told me it was for an antenna for World War II, but that's all I knew.
My wife who is from Gloucester County had never heard of this. She had family in Egg Harbor and no one ever mentioned the concrete blocks. I had the displeasure of living there for four years after I left the Navy. It's government disgusted me along with the high taxes and I convinced her come with me to North Carolina where my employer, AT&T had an opening. There are some sights I'd like to see there. My ancestor David De Marests home from 1678, The French Burial Ground. Woodbury was founded by another ancestor Pierre Cresson. Unfortunately I hold New Jersey's government in extreme contempt and will not go there.
No one in her family mentioned those concrete blocks because if her family lived where you said they did in Egg Harbor then that would be a totally different town which is located in Atlantic County about 25 minutes south from the Little Egg Harbor/Mystic Island/Tuckerton area towns which would be located in Ocean County where these blocks originated. There is three different towns with similar names here in South Jersey its just one has Little in front of it and the others are Egg Harbor Twp and Egg Harbor City. I lived around the corner from the Staysail Dr concrete block where I noticed how the big concrete slabs have been struck by vehicles many times trying to drive around it so they had to put up a wooden fence and it's funny how the main road you have to take if you wanna see these old German Radio tower landmark concrete anchor slabs is known as Radio Rd obviously named after the tower and not because you can receive a good clear radio signal on that road. It was the lone road to bring ppl down to those radio towers before the town decided on plans to wanna expand that whole area in to summer resort homes on the lagoons. Which imo if anyone was smart enough back then to think of it could have seen the bigger picture and bought them a place on the water or invested some money on any kind of properties down that way knowing how it would end up becoming a big money grabbing spot and home owners to this day are still making out quite well down that way even after hurricane Sandy hit there was ppl living in that section of town that got paid over 7 figures from their home owners insurance companies. Big bucks got sent around to lots of people they were paid handsomely to help with the bills that went towards lots of the rebuilds, all the house raisings, big and small orders for repairs and then there was some pretty sad situations where families were brought to trailer homes as relocations as well that eventually became permanent relocations so that area of town has been through some shit.
I actually live right next to the rock, growing up I always wonder what was the purpose of it and why is was there until 4th grade my history teacher explained the history behind it. It was nice knowing that I live on a historic site that was one point the 2nd highest tower in the world!
I learned about this tower way back in the late 1980's and it wasn't until a few years ago that I was able to learn all about it on the internet. The tower's base is on display outside the Tuckerton Historical Society in Little Egg Harbor NJ. Being a long time resident of NJ, I've not yet visited these two landmarks but intend to make it a day trip one day.
I lived in Rugby UK where there used to be 12 820ft towers that dominated the skyline for miles. They used to have red lights in them and were beautiful to see. They were pulled down in 2007 sadly. A rumoured casualty of the internet. Us older folks remember knowing we were almost home when travelling from London the moment this towers which loomed over the darkened countryside appears 5 minutes before pulling into the station.
This is awesome. I haven't even watched this video but I grew up in Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton New Jersey. We lived in houses that had canals behind them. Guess what was right smack in the canal, right in my yard? This giant concrete, house shaped block the size of a garage, with a giant eyelet in the center of it! We used to play on the thing, I was told it was an anchor for one of the towers for World War II, I was only seven or eight years old, and you could barely fit a boat between our Canal Edge and that thing it was right in our backyard! we were the only one that had one in our backyard. Now don't get it twisted, this thing was in the water, in the canal, but I remember on low tide, I could see the bottom around it. Those were good days it was 1982 I think. Thank you for this video I have to watch it, I haven't seen it yet!!!
I live not to far from Mystic Island and have been there several times but never knew of this tower or its history, that whole area of the state is full of historical things to see. When the weather warms up again we will take a motorcycle trip to the area. Thanks It's history.
You should do a video on tue Marconi wireless station that was in Somerset, NJ too. Parts of the concrete tower bases are there still. The RCA property was converted into housing developments in the early 80s but it was an important station where Marcomi, Tesla, Einstein and others had a group photo taken
I have a house in Mystic. I knew a little about the cable anchorsr, but not about the powerplant. I never knew that the buidlng and stack that are still there were for the tower.
I worked with a guy in the 70s that was stationed there as a radio repairman that I believe was during the war. I knew the story about the antenna before hearing his stories. History.
Are the dollar figures you're quoting for salaries and total cost in 1910s dollars or modern dollars? The weekly salary range you quoted would allow a person to retire in a year or so. Most jobs back then paid in the double digits per week, maybe $25-50 (even that salary range is more than most people earned). At the rates you quoted, a worker could buy a new car every week and still have enough to live a VERY lavish lifestyle.
One other thing. The first, or one of the first, transatlantic cables went across the bay near beach haven, and then across the ocean. When I was younger there were 'no anchoring' signs. IIRC the cables were still in use in the 1960's
....And yet, at around the same time that the military was sending censors to the Tuckerton tower, the State Department was passing on coded messages through diplomatic pouches, which we then sent by land telegram to their destinations. One of them was a coded telegram by a Mr. Zimmermann, who was the German diplomatic minister, and was sent to the newest leader of Mexico (they were in the middle of a civil war at the time). When the British cracked the German code, we were able to decode this message, and in it, the German government was offering to help Mexico regain the U.S. states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, in exchange for entering the war on the side of the Axis powers. This was the final outrage that resulted in us declaring war on Germany.
I still can’t figure out why it’s called the Tuckerton radio tower when it sat completely in the Mystic Island section of Little Egg Harbor. Maybe I’ll get an answer if I visit the Tuckerton Historical Society (which is also in Little Egg Harbor)
Probably because Tuckerton was the closest actual town when the tower was constructed. Little Egg Harbor was mostly marshland at the time, with a population of less than 500. Tuckerton, with its active port, was where the action was.
Pre wwi German nearly became the official language of the United States of America. Whenever I hear pre wwi history I consider that huge difference of opinion. I have been to the Marconi towers and station in Northern California. They have preserved the station as a working museum. Much of the equipment is intact. There are volunteers who are able to transmit and receive ham radio transmissions. Ham radio is frequently used on the west coast for sailors crossing the pacific. The volunteers have a wealth of information to share individually as well as archived documents regarding the Marconi station. It's also a beautiful drive. It's a nice place for a picnic too.
I think we got to personal worldwide wireless communication in our pockets very quickly. Especially when you consider the process of miniaturization that had to take place. Transistors are required to significantly miniaturize electronics and the first working point-contact transistor wasn't built until 1947 in Bell Labs. Back in 1912 the physics required to even understand how a transistor would work was still being ironed out.
Wait a minute Germany and United States talking friendly in 1941? The German Kaiser talking with the USA president? Wasn’t it the same time as the WW2? Wasn’t Germany our enemy? I can’t believe in the is video.
You're right that it is remarkable that today we take for granted what was near miraculous a century ago; but one has to wonder - if we are enjoying the comforts and privileges of the elite of yesteryear, _what wonders must the elite of today enjoy?_ 🤔🤷♂️
Was wondering what frequencies the tower's receivers were tuned to receive. During my time in the Air Force, we worked with VLF receiving equipment. VLF was used for submarine communication as the ocean and the ionosphere formed a natural "wave guide" for frequencies in this AM range thus eliminating skip or line of sight type transmission. My parents retired in Tuckerton in the late seventies and we often used the blocks to determine our position when flounder fishing in great bay.
About 15 KHz. Similar design to Swedish station SAQ which is still seasonally operational and has the same design alternator. There are videos and live-stream of the tests/broadcasts the day before every Christmas.
I think he might have a point about Marshland being needed for the ground but I think it has to do with the fact that the signal would bounce off of the water not sure if it's the fact that the water has surface tension so it makes it good surface to bounce off of but if you go to Seattle the TV stations in the 50s as well as am transmitters in the 30s were on like Vashon Island so that it would be able to bounce off of all of that salt water I'm sure that's probably Marshland in New Jersey off the coast of New Jersey too it being a very tall antenna it would also help to have the signal bounce the ocean as well
I think you misread that quote at 2:24. It’s not saying “Germany, West Africa…” I think it’s referring to the colony German West Africa or Deutsch-Westafrika
Further north on Barnegat Bay there was/is an array or poles used for some kind on ship to shore radio. I used to tell gullible kids that this was where they grew telephone poles. It is at the mouth of the Toms river and you can see it from the Rt 37 seaside bridge but iirc only access parts ofvit from Bayville side.
I was on a job where we demolished a bank vault. We did not use explosives to do it. It was built very solid. They took rebar and put it down every web in the blocks and filled them all with concrete. Which is not how you normally build a block wall. We were having trouble tearing it down with just chipping guns so the next day we brought a robot on the job. It leveled the vault in about an hour. A construction robot for those that do not know is a mobile platform with a remote controlled arm on it. It is like a jeep with an industrial robot arm on it. That arm had a big hydraulic breaking ram attached to it.
If the base had space for a transmitter (hollow and not a solid block), it could be easily demolished, thus making the property.more useful. The anchors though were solid and so were just left in place. The bullet backstop at the firing range of former WWII Camp Koehler in NE Sacramento was similarly left as is when the government returned the land to its former owners for development. It was one honking huge hunk of concrete and can be seen on Google Earth starting at Karl Rosario Park at the corner of (oddly enough) Karl Drive and Rosario Blvd. It is very thick, long and high and will not be going anywhere in our lifetimes, that's for sure! .
This is fascinating, but there are a number of errors. Typographical errors in some of the quotes, and a spot where it’s said the first transmission took place in 1941 (assume you meant 1914).
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I hope you all enjoy the video. I love NJ and am always excited to discover more of its oddities. However, one clarification; In the excitement of making this video, I swapped 1914 for 1941 at 4:59. Sorry about that!
Thanks for the correction! Also, please correct the title. You want "Secret," not "Secrete." Secrete means to ooze or to discharge.
Good video. I used to live on Long Island. The base of Teslas Tower is still visible in Shoreham NY.
Secrete
@@gregoryferraro7379 "Secrete" also means "to hide."
@@charlesyoung7436 no. As a verb, the word is still "secret." As in: "I *secret* away my favourite chocolate candy so my kids won't find it." "*Secrete*" only has one meaning, and that is a verb meaning "to discharge." The noun is "secretion."
In Swakopmund in Namibia a similar block of concrete is still also there. It also anchored a radio mast that was installed there. That one has some fancy plaster, making it look like an actual building of which the windows were closed off.
I lived a few blocks away from there growing up. I heard the story about the place but never saw a discussion of the tower in such detail! The rumors were true!
Learned most of this in our first grade history class in 1981 with Mrs. Gunther. Then again in second grade with Mrs. Caffereli. And from the old neighbors that were in the fire company. Fewer and fewer people remember it (and a lot of the other local history), especially as so many new people moved in from other areas.
It was actually my idea, not yours.
That's crazy I graduated in '89 and they never taught anything like this in history. Instead they just taught us a bunch of lies I went to school in a small town in Ellington Connecticut
The Tower wasn't built in Tuckerton it was in Mystic Island next town to Tuckerton. The concrete block you showed at the beginning of the vid wasn't the base of the tower it was a concrete anchor. But I am very pleased that you researched and made this vid. Thank You
It seems like you researched better than he did.. LOL
Mystic Islands is a community within Little Egg Harbor Township
@@dco2006 To include more context - Little Egg Harbor Twp is the township in which the independent Boro of Tuckerton resides. It's stupid and confusing but in this instance it amuses me because I get to shit on Mystic Island, which really just cuts out the middle man because that's where it's going anyway. ❤
@@fuzzydunlop7928 No. LEH is NOT in Tuckerton. They're separate. LEH just circles around Tuck kind of. We have different cops than Tuck.
@fuzzydunlop7928 Tuckerton existed before LEH. It's easy to research before commenting. Tuckerton was settled in 1699; LEH in 1740. The titles of "borough" and "twp" were incorporated much later, LEH being called a twp long before Tuckerton was est as a borough, which might confuse the issue. Once again, politics confuses actual history. LOL
"Broadcast" means from one to many just like an AM, FM, or TV station today. This was a "communications" tower, communicating from one point to another.
I grew up there and we used to play king of the hill on them blocks in the early 90s. (just the shorter one in the middle of the street.) I never even asked or wondered why these were there untill i started to work down there again recently. this was an awesome history lesson thank you.
New Jersey is an underrated state. I don't know why everyone jokes about them. I used to be a truck driver and been through there a few times. I was surprised how many beautiful areas they have. The roads and parking are a little tight but that's typical along the east coast. (I suppose I can't put my own gas too.)
Thanks for sharing.
My guess is the rivalry between them and New York, especially NYC, and the way it's portrayed in media (usually from the NY perspective).
Shhh! (NJ resident)
@@TheTarrMan jersey rules!
Yes; we in NJ enjoy the fact that we have a bit of everything: from seashore to mountains; from proximity to large cities to forest.
I absolutely love your videos! Especially the ones about New Jersey. I’ve never heard of this and I have lived fairly close my entire life
New jersey was a major area for the development of radio-telegraphy (and radio in general). Further North, where Sandy Hook meets the mainland, there was a rather high hill where a lighthouse was built. But Guglielmo Marconi, looking for a location for a radio tower that would communicate with Europe and ships out at sea, built it on that hill.
4:59 You said "By January 1941 " was that supposed to be 1914? Because the Kaiser and Woodrow Wilson were not in power then.
@Class Act Pretty sure Tesla was involved with this and facilitated communication with Wilson's spirit.
yeah, unfortunately, I swapped the 14 for 41. Sorry about that! I'll posting a retraction
They found out our secret ! Fire up the machine, we must travel back !!! 😂🤣😎
Thanks Ryan. Glad to see you read the comments and found my idea interesting. I lived on Lake Michigan Drive in Mystic from December 2000 till the day before Sandy in 2012. Dead end street and it was always quiet there, even in the summer. I do miss it but I'm not taking my chances again with another hurricane. I live inland now, western Atlantic County
I'm like "oh the Tuckerton Block." Because to me and my fishing buds, it's always been there. Just something we use as a landmark. And I thought everyone knew it was used for a telegraph tower before WW-I. Crazy the stuff locals take for granted. And in this case, some mistook it for granite.
Thanks Ryan... been driving around those concrete blocks for years.
Send me some pictures of it on Insta!
I lived next to the Block on Ensign Drive and worked in the old power house when it was Mystic Island Marina back in the late 70's and through the 80's. Tuckerton has a small museum with a piece of the tower and the steel ball it rested on. My adult children and siblings have been made aware of your story. Kudos and thank you for the memories. Ray K
When you compare this station with cell phones, just remember, the size of the cellular network, infrastructure included, is significantly larger than this station. They built a trans-Atlantic radio system that was two-way. This is far greater an achievement than a normal broadcast station. Great video, keep it up!
What a BEAUTIFUL story....told both from a tech perspective and from an emotional point of view!
Things that one would never have known if it was not for your channel being present when I was wondering....
"What the h3ll am I gonna watch at 5:55am on a Sunday morning?"
LOL!
I'm recovering from spine surgery (my 5th) and it would be a horrible recovery if it was not for TH-cam creators like you!
Thank you sir.
One slight correction: This type of point-to,point radio transmission is not "broadcasting". Broadcasting came later. Broadcasting specifically refers to a station transmitting general interest content to anyone who is tuned in.
Thanks for the clarification
as a former signalmen a radio telegraph does broadcast ( unlike a wired telegraph that sends down a point to point wire) anyone with a similar reciver (very rare at that time) could recieve the messages sent as the german navy found out in ww1 . it was interesting to hear that frequency jumping (used as encription today at hundreds of hops a min ) had origins going so far back
With all the massive and blatant errors in this video, THAT is the one you obsessed over??
Nicely (if however pedantically) played.
I love this channel. Great nuggets of knowledge....
Thanks Sal!
A story that hits home, literally. I live five minutes away from here in Mystic. Lol
Same
One of the first places I went after my 6 tours in Iraq was the Jersey shore. I rented a small quite little beach house for a 4 day stay over a weekend. Mostly I used a motorized bike I built to tool around. Shortly after that I went to Lake Charles. For some reasons the author here is right. Nothing speaks for old world grass roots America like both places particularly the Jersey Shore.
In 1901, Marconi sent the first wireless radio transmission across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to St.Johns, Newfoundland. Thirteen years before Tuckerton Tower's transmission.
Marconi used 17 Teslas Patins. Tesla was the real visionary.
Very impressive in 1901. Worth noting that is half the distance.
@@billyvon666 ,I agree, Tesla was a badass!
5:51 … it couldn’t have been 1941. The Kaiser was long dead. Was it 1911 or 1914? // Communication from the US directly to Berlin. That looks is a recipe for failure, considering the relationship that we eventually had with Germany.
The holy grail is hidden deep inside the concrete monolith
Wow that’s funny, I just passed that block the other day for a job in tuckerton. Me and my friend were looking at each other like why is there a giant block in the middle of the street lol
So glad this channel exists, so much has been forgotten in the great old state of New Jersey
My great grandfather was the head of US Customs in Jacksonville, Florida, when World War I broke out. At the port of Jacksonville, he struck the first blow to Germany once war was declared by seizing all the German ships that were docked there. He was very proud of this fact, and it is pretty dang cool.
5:48 You meant 1914. Wilson was dead, and the Kaiser was exiled and abdicated in January 1941.
Jan. 1914: 5 months before assassination of Austria archduke.
The first text message cool. 💯🤙🏽
There were large numbers of German immigrants living in New Jersey at the time. German companies owned a lot of businesses and had considerable influence in the politics of the state. When the US joined the allied side during WWI New Jersey was vitally important to the war effort. New Jersey was the location of major industries that produced all kinds of war materiel. New Jersey also contained large numbers of shipping ports and ports of embarkation. One million of the 4 million US troops sent to Europe during WWI passed through Camp Merit, this was just one of several transit camps located in New Jersey. When the US became directly involved in 1917 someone asked Gen. John Pershing how long the war would last, he replied, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken, by Christmas". Hoboken, NJ was a major embarkation point. Many of the shipping lines and piers in Hoboken were owned by German companies. For reasons of national security almost all of these German businesses were seized by the US government. Many of the owners were thrown in prison or chased off. After the war very few of the businesses were returned to their German owners, most being sold off to satisfy war reparations. Some of the original owners received some minor compensation, usually pennies on the dollar.
As a life long Ocean County resident, this was pretty cool to see in such detail. Ps there are beautiful preserved land in the surrounding area.
This is quite strange story and my best friend lives in Tuckerton. Thanks for making this story happen
I love this channel and especially appreciate your videos in/about places in NJ. Always extra interesting indeed!
What people don't know about the 3rd state is a LOT.
So much history and o many great places to live, work, visit and go to school in New Jersey. And home to some of the prettiest beaches and shore towns on any coast.
Thank you Ryan, Aunt Barbara adores you!
Firt radio transmission sent across the Atlantic ocean was December 12,1901 from England to St. John's, Newfoundland Guglielmo Marconi
First
I used to design antenna towers. AM towers are unique because the tower is the antenna and thier length is related to the frequency they operate on. Obviously they had some tuning coils for the antenna length. The antenna is electrically isolated and has an insulator at the base. This foundation was raised so high maybe for electrical safety and prevent people from contacting the tower. The guy wires had electrical insulators. You can kind of see them in the photos. This was a great history lesson that really deserves a much deeper dive into the engineering background. By today’s standards the foundions are way overbuilt because they did not have all of the engineering research we have today and the computers.
I love New Jersey too! If I could recommend researching Bordentown NJ you may find material for a video or two.
im glad you enjoy my state. it is a great state with many different things and secrets
We used to climb on those blocks when visiting my uncle, aunt and cousins in the 80s and 90s! Always brought home scrapes and bruises!
I live in NJ, never knew about this.
We had one of those anchors on an angle, but still in the canal 10 ft from our bank of our yard, it was in our backyard, but in the water!!! I remember it was the size of a small garage, it was shaped like a house, and it had a huge eyelet in the top of it. Our boat would barely fit between our Canal bank and that thing. It was so out of place it sat on an angle, and we were the only one on our Canal that had this thing in the water. It was my uncle's house!!! I grew up in Little Egg Harbor. Thank you so much for airing this I've heard so little about those Tower anchors, my uncle told me it was for an antenna for World War II, but that's all I knew.
We have had a house on this exact street for 20 years. Never knew what these blocks were until now.😂
Tele-funkin made some of the most legendary studio microphones in the industry..
My wife who is from Gloucester County had never heard of this. She had family in Egg Harbor and no one ever mentioned the concrete blocks.
I had the displeasure of living there for four years after I left the Navy. It's government disgusted me along with the high taxes and I convinced her come with me to North Carolina where my employer, AT&T had an opening.
There are some sights I'd like to see there. My ancestor David De Marests home from 1678, The French Burial Ground. Woodbury was founded by another ancestor Pierre Cresson. Unfortunately I hold New Jersey's government in extreme contempt and will not go there.
No one in her family mentioned those concrete blocks because if her family lived where you said they did in Egg Harbor then that would be a totally different town which is located in Atlantic County about 25 minutes south from the Little Egg Harbor/Mystic Island/Tuckerton area towns which would be located in Ocean County where these blocks originated. There is three different towns with similar names here in South Jersey its just one has Little in front of it and the others are Egg Harbor Twp and Egg Harbor City. I lived around the corner from the Staysail Dr concrete block where I noticed how the big concrete slabs have been struck by vehicles many times trying to drive around it so they had to put up a wooden fence and it's funny how the main road you have to take if you wanna see these old German Radio tower landmark concrete anchor slabs is known as Radio Rd obviously named after the tower and not because you can receive a good clear radio signal on that road. It was the lone road to bring ppl down to those radio towers before the town decided on plans to wanna expand that whole area in to summer resort homes on the lagoons. Which imo if anyone was smart enough back then to think of it could have seen the bigger picture and bought them a place on the water or invested some money on any kind of properties down that way knowing how it would end up becoming a big money grabbing spot and home owners to this day are still making out quite well down that way even after hurricane Sandy hit there was ppl living in that section of town that got paid over 7 figures from their home owners insurance companies. Big bucks got sent around to lots of people they were paid handsomely to help with the bills that went towards lots of the rebuilds, all the house raisings, big and small orders for repairs and then there was some pretty sad situations where families were brought to trailer homes as relocations as well that eventually became permanent relocations so that area of town has been through some shit.
Very interesting stuff. Impressive technology for that time. Love this channel.
I actually live right next to the rock, growing up I always wonder what was the purpose of it and why is was there until 4th grade my history teacher explained the history behind it. It was nice knowing that I live on a historic site that was one point the 2nd highest tower in the world!
I learned about this tower way back in the late 1980's and it wasn't until a few years ago that I was able to learn all about it on the internet. The tower's base is on display outside the Tuckerton Historical Society in Little Egg Harbor NJ. Being a long time resident of NJ, I've not yet visited these two landmarks but intend to make it a day trip one day.
That was oddly interesting, I enjoy history like this. Thank you for your research
The base of the tower is at the Tuckerton Historical Society Museum. (The part that rested on the ball.)
Wow! I always wondered why that big block was there, I worked in that area and was mesmerized on how big it was! 👌
Wow, this is really cool. Thanks for sharing!
I lived in Rugby UK where there used to be 12 820ft towers that dominated the skyline for miles. They used to have red lights in them and were beautiful to see. They were pulled down in 2007 sadly. A rumoured casualty of the internet. Us older folks remember knowing we were almost home when travelling from London the moment this towers which loomed over the darkened countryside appears 5 minutes before pulling into the station.
That was a awesome story I never knew that was done
This is awesome. I haven't even watched this video but I grew up in Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton New Jersey. We lived in houses that had canals behind them. Guess what was right smack in the canal, right in my yard? This giant concrete, house shaped block the size of a garage, with a giant eyelet in the center of it! We used to play on the thing, I was told it was an anchor for one of the towers for World War II, I was only seven or eight years old, and you could barely fit a boat between our Canal Edge and that thing it was right in our backyard! we were the only one that had one in our backyard. Now don't get it twisted, this thing was in the water, in the canal, but I remember on low tide, I could see the bottom around it. Those were good days it was 1982 I think. Thank you for this video I have to watch it, I haven't seen it yet!!!
They are not referred to as canals they are Lagoons
excellent history documentary , thank you
A friend of mine lived two doors from that block in the 90s. That block is huge!
I live not to far from Mystic Island and have been there several times but never knew of this tower or its history, that whole area of the state is full of historical things to see.
When the weather warms up again we will take a motorcycle trip to the area.
Thanks It's history.
Hey Ryan,
Have you ever visited the USS Rancocas, as seen from the south side of the NJTP?
I think she's still owned by Lockheed Martin.
AKA, the "battleship in the cornfield" 😁😁
Very cool. Thanks for posting.
You should do a video on tue Marconi wireless station that was in Somerset, NJ too. Parts of the concrete tower bases are there still. The RCA property was converted into housing developments in the early 80s but it was an important station where Marcomi, Tesla, Einstein and others had a group photo taken
That’s crazy watching this my friend literally lived right near this. I have pictures of it always wondered what it was sweet now I know👍
A very cool piece of history.
That drop from space left some out.
Damn I really enjoy your awesome interesting videos . 👍🏻🇺🇸
I have a house in Mystic. I knew a little about the cable anchorsr, but not about the powerplant. I never knew that the buidlng and stack that are still there were for the tower.
Very much enjoyed the info…now I gotta go back to Mystic Island!
I worked with a guy in the 70s that was stationed there as a radio repairman that I believe was during the war. I knew the story about the antenna before hearing his stories. History.
Very interesting! Thank you.
Do you know about Texas tower number 4 Off the shores of New Jersey?
Are the dollar figures you're quoting for salaries and total cost in 1910s dollars or modern dollars? The weekly salary range you quoted would allow a person to retire in a year or so. Most jobs back then paid in the double digits per week, maybe $25-50 (even that salary range is more than most people earned). At the rates you quoted, a worker could buy a new car every week and still have enough to live a VERY lavish lifestyle.
@MrJonsonville5
The dollar amount mentioned was the total for all workers combined.
Excellent show. I have been all over the country repeatedly. But this is something I didn't get to see.
I live in Toms River NJ born and raised, I know all about this 👍
One other thing. The first, or one of the first, transatlantic cables went across the bay near beach haven, and then across the ocean.
When I was younger there were 'no anchoring' signs. IIRC the cables were still in use in the 1960's
....And yet, at around the same time that the military was sending censors to the Tuckerton tower, the State Department was passing on coded messages through diplomatic pouches, which we then sent by land telegram to their destinations. One of them was a coded telegram by a Mr. Zimmermann, who was the German diplomatic minister, and was sent to the newest leader of Mexico (they were in the middle of a civil war at the time). When the British cracked the German code, we were able to decode this message, and in it, the German government was offering to help Mexico regain the U.S. states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, in exchange for entering the war on the side of the Axis powers. This was the final outrage that resulted in us declaring war on Germany.
🧐 You meant “Central Powers,” _right_?
NOT “Axis” powers…
I live 1 block away from a block thanks for the video most people who live here don’t even know the background
Great job 👏
Cool information
Hi - watching this video, noticed a typo min 5:50 - it should read 1914 instead of 1941. I thought you might want to know. I am loving your site.
I still can’t figure out why it’s called the Tuckerton radio tower when it sat completely in the Mystic Island section of Little Egg Harbor. Maybe I’ll get an answer if I visit the Tuckerton Historical Society (which is also in Little Egg Harbor)
Probably because Tuckerton was the closest actual town when the tower was constructed. Little Egg Harbor was mostly marshland at the time, with a population of less than 500. Tuckerton, with its active port, was where the action was.
Pre wwi German nearly became the official language of the United States of America. Whenever I hear pre wwi history I consider that huge difference of opinion.
I have been to the Marconi towers and station in Northern California. They have preserved the station as a working museum. Much of the equipment is intact. There are volunteers who are able to transmit and receive ham radio transmissions. Ham radio is frequently used on the west coast for sailors crossing the pacific. The volunteers have a wealth of information to share individually as well as archived documents regarding the Marconi station. It's also a beautiful drive. It's a nice place for a picnic too.
I think we got to personal worldwide wireless communication in our pockets very quickly. Especially when you consider the process of miniaturization that had to take place. Transistors are required to significantly miniaturize electronics and the first working point-contact transistor wasn't built until 1947 in Bell Labs. Back in 1912 the physics required to even understand how a transistor would work was still being ironed out.
Wow, I would be able to see this structure perfectly from my bedroom window if it were still up, only a 3 min drive from its old location
Wait a minute Germany and United States talking friendly in 1941?
The German Kaiser talking with the USA president?
Wasn’t it the same time as the WW2? Wasn’t Germany our enemy?
I can’t believe in the is video.
Nice story Ryan!
I lived down the road from this and there were more than one. We played tennis against it after school in the 80s.
My in-laws owned property at Mystic Island and I remember seeing the big concrete blocks.
You're right that it is remarkable that today we take for granted what was near miraculous a century ago; but one has to wonder - if we are enjoying the comforts and privileges of the elite of yesteryear, _what wonders must the elite of today enjoy?_ 🤔🤷♂️
Was wondering what frequencies the tower's receivers were tuned to receive. During my time in the Air Force, we worked with VLF receiving equipment. VLF was used for submarine communication as the ocean and the ionosphere formed a natural "wave guide" for frequencies in this AM range thus eliminating skip or line of sight type transmission.
My parents retired in Tuckerton in the late seventies and we often used the blocks to determine our position when flounder fishing in great bay.
I think they were down in the VLF area. That was just before we discovered what the shortwaves could do.
About 15 KHz. Similar design to Swedish station SAQ which is still seasonally operational and has the same design alternator. There are videos and live-stream of the tests/broadcasts the day before every Christmas.
I think he might have a point about Marshland being needed for the ground but I think it has to do with the fact that the signal would bounce off of the water not sure if it's the fact that the water has surface tension so it makes it good surface to bounce off of but if you go to Seattle the TV stations in the 50s as well as am transmitters in the 30s were on like Vashon Island so that it would be able to bounce off of all of that salt water I'm sure that's probably Marshland in New Jersey off the coast of New Jersey too it being a very tall antenna it would also help to have the signal bounce the ocean as well
Germany had great concrete and structural design. What aggregate did they use for the station and pil Boxes in Europe
Maybe turn them into some sort of artwork or use them as a base to display sculptures on top.
Those Civil War statues that have been pulled down would look fine on top. :-)
I think you misread that quote at 2:24. It’s not saying “Germany, West Africa…” I think it’s referring to the colony German West Africa or Deutsch-Westafrika
My cousin had a house a block over (Spinnaker Drive). I always wondered what it was.... thanks
I live in tuckerton didn’t know the tower was next to to the power station
It was 82 stories high? That must have been seen from everywhere...
Further north on Barnegat Bay there was/is an array or poles used for some kind on ship to shore radio. I used to tell gullible kids that this was where they grew telephone poles. It is at the mouth of the Toms river and you can see it from the Rt 37 seaside bridge but iirc only access parts ofvit from Bayville side.
I was on a job where we demolished a bank vault. We did not use explosives to do it. It was built very solid. They took rebar and put it down every web in the blocks and filled them all with concrete. Which is not how you normally build a block wall. We were having trouble tearing it down with just chipping guns so the next day we brought a robot on the job. It leveled the vault in about an hour. A construction robot for those that do not know is a mobile platform with a remote controlled arm on it. It is like a jeep with an industrial robot arm on it. That arm had a big hydraulic breaking ram attached to it.
So was the bast of the tower destroyed? Seems it would be harder to destroy than the three anchors.
If the base had space for a transmitter (hollow and not a solid block), it could be easily demolished, thus making the property.more useful. The anchors though were solid and so were just left in place. The bullet backstop at the firing range of former WWII Camp Koehler in NE Sacramento was similarly left as is when the government returned the land to its former owners for development. It was one honking huge hunk of concrete and can be seen on Google Earth starting at Karl Rosario Park at the corner of (oddly enough) Karl Drive and Rosario Blvd. It is very thick, long and high and will not be going anywhere in our lifetimes, that's for sure!
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This is fascinating, but there are a number of errors. Typographical errors in some of the quotes, and a spot where it’s said the first transmission took place in 1941 (assume you meant 1914).
I used to live down in Tuckerton near that . Nobody (as kids) ever knew how old it was . We thought it was just a Slab of Concrete ..
i am from tuckerton but never really knew the full history of the tower. charles beulow was my neighbor. he died when i was just a kid.
I’m obsessed with brilliant ideas that failed bc they were ahead of their time.