Posted on February 18, 2020
SEASIDE — For 77 years, Fort Ord near Monterey was a sprawling Army base thick with artillery pieces, wooden barracks and infantrymen taking target practice with rifles and machine guns.
More than 2 million men and women served there between 1917 and 1994, including soldiers who battled in World War I, stormed the beaches in Okinawa during World War II, and fought in Korea, Vietnam and Panama. Clint Eastwood was based here when he was young and unknown. So were Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, rock star Jerry Garcia and actors Leonard Nimoy and Jamie Farr.
But this year, the oceanfront portion of the former base — four miles of majestic sand dunes hugging Monterey Bay — will begin a new transformation: It will become the first new state park campground of its size built anywhere on the California coast in more than 30 years.
“People love these wide open spaces,” said Brent Marshall, superintendent of state parks’ Monterey District, while hiking through the site this week. “The sand dunes are so dynamic. There is a long stretch of beach. You can get out on it and walk for hours.”
State parks officials say they will put the $22 million project out to bid this spring, begin construction this fall and aim to open it in 2022. Plans call for 110 campsites — half for RVs and half for tents — on the southern edge of the property, with a campfire center, community gathering building, beach access trail, Monterey Bay overlooks and interpretive exhibits featuring wildlife and military history.
Source: coastalnewstoday.com
