Every one of the 2 million beachgoers who pour into Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook each year will drive right past a forgotten, decrepit place that tells a unique Jersey story.

It's called the Sandlass House. It's the last remaining structure of Highland Beach Resort, which was founded in the 1870s as the first excursion day tripper resort on the northern shore.

With bungalows and nightclubs, beaches and bathhouses, shops and amusements, the Highland Beach Resort brought thousands of tourists - first by steamboat, then railroad, then by car as the decades wound on.

Literally and figuratively, Highland beach was the beachhead of Jersey Shore tourism, and has shaped the culture and identity of the state in so many ways.

All that's left of the resort is the Sandlass House - and it's in trouble.

Recently placed on Preservation New Jersey's list of the 10 most endangered historic sites in New Jersey, the home's roof is in danger of caving in, and the house needs a huge amount of work to make it habitable.

On today's segment of Brian's Positively New Jersey, Brian visits the site of the ghost resort and talks with a former resident and author whose grandfather built the place out of the timbers from an old roller coaster.