See also New York–New Jersey Highlands for the northwestern part of New Jersey. Highlands is a borough in northern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A historic waterfront community located on the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region, this scenic borough is a commuter town of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,621, a decrease of 384 (−7.7%) from the 2010 census count of 5,005, which in turn reflected a decline of 92 (−1.8%) from the 5,097 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023. The eastern part of the town is on a high bluff that overlooks Sandy Hook and Sandy Hook Bay, the entrance to New York Harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean, from which the borough derives its name.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 1, 2015.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 156. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed September 1, 2015. Atop this bluff are the Navesink Twin Lights.
Highlands was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 22, 1900, from parts of Middletown Township. Additional parts of Middletown Township were annexed in 1914.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 180. Accessed May 28, 2024.
Highlands was part of the Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan, an effort by nine municipalities in northern Monmouth County to reinvigorate the area's economy by emphasizing the traditional downtowns, residential neighborhoods, maritime history, and the natural environment of the Raritan Bayshore coastline.Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan , Monmouth County, New Jersey, adopted September 18, 2006. Accessed June 7, 2017. The plan has since been integrated into the 2016 Monmouth County Master Plan.2016 Monmouth County Master Plan,Monmouth County, New Jersey, adopted October 17, 2016. Accessed December 5, 2025.
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck the eastern seaboard of the United States, making landfall just north of Atlantic City, before causing significant damage to businesses and homes in the borough.
History Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the area known today as Highlands in 1525. During the next two centuries, the Highlands area would welcome English and Dutch settlers. Even by the 20th Century, many immigrants saw the hills of the Highlands of Navesink which were almost above sea level.
The oldest route to the eastern coast of the United States is the Minisink Trail which started on the upper Delaware River, came through northern New Jersey and ended at the Navesink River. Navesink means "good fishing spot" in the native tongue at the time. The trail was used by Native Americans, such as the Algonquin and Lenni Lenape tribes. They came from all over New Jersey to spend the summer fishing and finding clams. The Newasunks, Raritans, and Sachem Papomorga (or Lenni Lenape) were the most prevalent tribes and stayed the longest. These were the tribes which mostly traded with early settlers.
One year after Verrazzano explored the area, Portuguese explorer Estêvão Gomes (also spelled as Estevan Gomez) visited the Highlands of Navesink and created the first maps of the area. These were the maps in which Sandy Hook was first drawn and called "Cabo de Arenas" or "Cape of Sands."Layton, Timothy W. Cultural Landscape Report for the Sandy Hook Coastal Defense Batteries: Gateway National Recreation Area, Fort Hancock, New Jersey, National Park Service, 2010. Accessed December 5, 2025. "Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano sailed past Sandy Hook in 1524 and was followed the next year by Estevan Gomez. Although born in Portugal, Gomez sailed for Spain and by 1529 a Spanish map recorded the peninsula as 'Cabo de Arenas' or 'Cape of Sands.'"
In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed into the Sandy Hook Bay and wrote: "This is very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to see. Our men went on land, so they went up into the woods and saw great stores of very goodly oaks and some currants". One of Hudson's crew became the first man killed by Native Americans who were frightened by his scouting party.
Many years after Hudson's trip to the area, the Highlands of Navesink saw a number of Dutch who traded with the Navesink Indians and prepared nautical charts. William Reape, one of the Dutch, made a bargain with the local natives to trade land in exchange for rum, blankets and gunpowder.
Eventually, the Dutch settlers named the land "Rensselaer's Hoeck," but British settlers took over and renamed the settlement "Portland" in 1664. The group purchasing the land included James Hubbard, John Bawne, John Tilton Jr., Richard Stout, William Goulding and Samuel Spear.
Three years later, in 1677, Richard Hartshorne purchased a tract of land from the Native Americans which provided him with control of nearly all of Sandy Hook and Highlands which was then called "Portland Poynt." Hartshorne and his family became the first permanent settlers of the area.
Some early settlers soon realized the importance Highlands and Sandy Hook would have in the defense of the country. People in Highlands and Sandy Hook could warn New York of any enemies approaching by sea and also to help guide ships into New York Harbor. In 1762, New York merchants purchased a site from the Hartshorne family for a light house. Two years later, the Sandy Hook Light House was lighted for the first time.
The hills of the Highlands of Navesink and Sandy Hook also played an important role during the American Revolutionary War. It was a vital strategic site for the British and Colonial Armies. When the British fleet arrived close to Sandy Hook in 1776, sympathizers with the British built fortifications and with the help of the British were able to hold Sandy Hook for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. The Loyalists stayed in control of Sandy Hook even after the war was ended by the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.
Captain Joshua Huddy was the eldest of seven brothers and a member of the Monmouth Continental Militia. He pursued gangs of Tory (Loyalist) refugees who plundered the area searching for American rebels. The refugees made Huddy a target and tried to kill him several times. Unfortunately, one of the Loyalists' raids from Sandy Hook ended with setting Huddy's house on fire. Huddy agreed to surrender if they would help him to put out the fire. They agreed and took Huddy as a prisoner. The fire from the house had attracted the attention of Huddy's neighbors and the local militia raced after the Tories, catching them before they could reach their boats at Black Point in Rumson. In the fight that ensued, Huddy escaped.
However, two years later the Loyalists captured Huddy and brought him to Gravelly Point in Highlands where he was allowed to write his will. Then Huddy was hanged for the death of Captain Philip White who had been captured by Rebels earlier in Long Branch and shot while being transported to Freehold. Huddy was not involved in the shooting, as he was in a British prison at the time, but was hanged anyway. His body was carried by patriots to Freehold and buried. Today, a monument in Huddy Park honors Captain Joshua Huddy.
In 1796, the first hotel in the Highlands of Navesink was built and many other hotels were built until the War of 1812. Two years later, the tourism began to grow and new hotels were built on Sandy Hook and on the hills of Highlands. In addition, a number of new homes were being built and visitors were coming to Highlands by the boatload.
Author James Fenimore Cooper, author of Last of the Mohicans, also wrote Water Witch, a novel which was inspired by his visits to Highlands. Walt Whitman, one of America's most famous poets, celebrated his excursions to Highlands in his journals and a group of his poems entitled, "Fancies at Navesink."Pallone, Frank. 100th Anniversary of the Borough of Highlands, Congressional Record, Volume 146, Number 34 (March 23, 2000). Accessed October 15, 2013.
By 1880, numerous hotels, beach pavilions and private clubs were flourishing in Highlands. It was the beginning of a glorious era for the small town on the Shrewsbury River. Trains and steamships brought vacationers to celebrate post-Civil War prosperity.
New York theatrical producers and famous actors built summer homes in Highlands. The area became so popular that Harper's Magazine sent a journalist down nearly every summer in the 1870s and 1880s to write about the community and its people.
The Seashore Railroad had been built on the Sandy Hook peninsula during 1865 and a ferry service was established to take passengers across the river from Highlands to his hotel on Sandy Hook. Then a bridge was constructed in 1872 and the ferry service ceased operations. The new drawbridge was about and wide. It was constructed at a cost of $35,000 and opened in 1872, but was closed for three years when a schooner ran into it in 1875. By 1883, a railroad came to Atlantic Highlands and in 1892 the old draw bridge at Highlands was torn down and a new railroad bridge was built by the New Jersey Central Railroad Company for their coastal line. This new bridge for rail, vehicular, and foot traffic was opened in 1892.
On Lighthouse Hill were the Twin Lights which is one of the most historic sites in the nation. Built in 1862, it was the first twin light house, the first electric powered light, the first glimpse of America for incoming ships, the first in the nation to use the Fresnel lens, the first to use wireless telegraphy, and the site of the first experiments with radar.Staff. "ON THE MAP; At Twin Lights, Keeping Memories of Whale Oil Burning", The New York Times, May 12, 1996. Accessed October 15, 2013.
Light House Hill (also known as Beacon Hill) was employed as a site for a beacon as early as 1746, when England was in conflict with France in the War of Austrian Succession, and the colonies of both were up for grabs. The beacon—whale oil burned in pots—was not only to welcome sailors, but to warn citizens that the French were coming up the harbor and it was time to take down the musket from over the fireplace. During the Revolutionary War, the beacon served the same purpose, only Britain was the enemy.Letter from President John Hamilton to the Council of New York-relating to the destruction of the Beacon on the Highlands of Neversink , New Jersey Lighthouse Society. Accessed October 15, 2013. "Light-House Hill, also known as Beacon Hill was used as a site for a beacon as early as 1746. At that time, England was at War with France in the War of Austrian Succession. The colonies of both England and France was in danger of being taken over by the other. A beacon system was established near the site of the present Twin Lights, that was to be used in the event the French decided to invade New York."
In 1899, Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy demonstrated his invention at the Twin Lights so the New York Herald could be the first to have news of the 1899 America's Cup races to be run off the New Jersey Coast.Stattel, Erin O. "Twin Lights beacon was nation's first radio station" , Atlanticville, June 18, 2009. Accessed June 18, 2026. "The year was 1899, and an Italian American named Guglielmo Marconi placed a receiving station, complete with an antenna, at the Twin Lights, sending results of the America's Cup yacht races off the tip of Sandy Hook to editors at the New York Herald and demonstrating the wireless telegraph."