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Saturday, August 8, 2009

The New Gretna Wireless Tower - A Blog Exclusive


It isn't often that one gets to announce a great historic find, especially right here in New Gretna. Now I know how the discoverer of King Tut's tomb must have felt. The rush of adrenaline is unmistakable.

I'm sure that most of you out in the Blog-O-Sphere have heard of the Tuckerton Wireless tower that was located out on Mystic Island. We've talked about it on the Blog before.

The 850 foot tall Tuckerton Wireless tower. (Postcard courtesy of the Tuckerton Historical Society.)

Click on the links below to view previous Blog entries dealing with the Tuckerton Wireless:



Although the tower was dismantled on December 27, 1955, the huge concrete blocks used to anchor the tower's guide wires still exist to this day, silent witnesses to the existence of the towering structure.

Concrete block on Staysail Drive in Mystic Islands. The concrete block is much like an iceberg with a large part of it's bulk under ground. There were attempts to blast the behemoths apart, so that they could be removed for the creation of the Mystic Island lagoon community. Today the four large blocks and other smaller ones can still be seen in the roads, backyards, and lagoons. (May 15, 2005 photo by Pete Stemmer, but they were unsuccessful.)


One of the smaller Tuckerton Wireless Tower concrete support blocks juts out of the lagoon between North Burgee Drive and North Spinnaker Drive in Mystic Islands. (Satellite photo courtesy of Bing Maps.)

What's all this have to do with New Gretna, you may ask. Well, as John Wayne used to say, "I'll tell ya, Pilgrim." While looking through a group of old postcards donated by Paul Steinhauer to the Tuckerton Historical Society, I came across indisputable evidence of the existence of a sister tower in New Gretna.

The New Gretna wireless was a sister to the Tuckerton Wireless.

The New Gretna Wireless Postcard was published by C.A. Reed & Co. from Williamsport, Pa., a reputable firm that could be trusted to get their facts straight.

The name of the publisher is printed on the reverse side of the New Gretna Wireless Postcard.

It's strange that I haven't heard of the New Gretna Wireless before nor seen the remains of the massive concrete blocks that would have been needed as part of the support structure. I wonder where the tower was located and what became of it's imposing support blocks. I suspect they may be in the upper part of the Township, in the thick pine woods somewhere on the federal property used in connection with the Warren Grove Bombing Range. Who better to cloak the existence of these giant behemoths than the agencies responsible for stealth fighter technology? What we have here is a government conspiracy to hide their existence.

Why would our government want to wipe out all evidence of the New Gretna Wireless Tower and hide its massive support blocks? Perhaps to build secret, impervious bunkers under the blocks to be used by our high government officials in case of an enemy attack or some other disaster. Just where was Dick Cheney shortly after 911? In the pine barrens, that's where! There are even some rumors he may have hidden a pilfered birth certificate there.

Before you poo-poo my theory, I submit exhibit #1 below. It's a photo of Dick Cheney at his first press conference following 911. Notice what's on his left shoulder . . . a pine cone stuck to his jacket. I rest my case!


Dick Cheney at his first press conference after 911.


I spent this afternoon combing through acres and acres of thick woods on Google's satellite maps, searching for clues of the whereabouts of the concrete giants. I believe I may have found a few good leads, and I'm considering starting a "Wireless Posse" to search through the more remote pine woods in search of the remnants of the support blocks.



Anyone wishing to join the "Wireless Posse" should drop me a line here at the Blog. Your assistance would be appreciated.

Pete S

4 comments:

  1. After much examination, Sam has concluded the two tower photos are identical. The smoke, wind and trees are the same in both pictures. The land is too flat to be near New Gretna. They could have been using New Gretna for their mail address. There will be no charge for our investigation- great fun!!
    Sam & Phyllis

    ReplyDelete
  2. On Radio Road - South of Tuckerton, New Jersey

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