Sunset Beach is one of our very favorite places. Besides having unusually beautiful sunsets over open water (not normally visible on the East Coast), Sunset Beach has three things: the remains of the concrete ship "Atlantus", Cape May Diamonds, and the summer evening Flag Ceremony. All this, and free parking, too.
Atlantus, the concrete ship: in 1917, the United States joined World War I. Ships were quickly needed to transport soldiers and supplies to Europe. As an alternative to using steel, several ocean-going ships were made of reinforced concrete. They worked, but evidently were too slow to be economical, and were not used for very long after the war ended. In 1926, it was planned that one of these, the Atlantus, be used as part of a Ferry slip. It would be towed to a point near Cape May, and then purposely sunk so that a roadway to the ferry could be built over it. However, there was a mishap, the boat got stuck on a sand bar near its final destination, and there it remains, to this day. Today, due to the wear and ravages of time and the water, it takes a bit of imagination to recognize the Atlantus as a ship.