On Saturday April 12, Steven Haller, Historian of the National Park Service, took a dedicated group of Presidio Historical Association members on a tour of the Fort Scott batteries. Starting at the parking lot at Battery East...which most of us did not know was even part of Fort Scott, we wandered over, past, and through three fortifications created by the US Army, starting with the Civil War era and ending with the Nike missile era. Steve pointed to walls, barricades, and gun batteries that had been built over the years and that changed radically as the threats of attack to the Golden Gate shifted.
In the early days, the bluffs around the Gate bristled with cannons. Later, when ships could travel much faster out of the range of the cannons, more powerful guns were installed, some with ammunition weighing up to 1000 pounds. We were given a special tour inside Battery Godfrey where the Park Service has resuscitated the pulleys the raised these enormous "bullets" and restored the exterior and interior to its historical past. Volunteer and author John Martini demonstrated the raising and lowering of the creaky but functional pulleys.
Michael Brassington, a PHA Board member, was on the tour with his wife Betty. He shared with the group that in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Mike worked in the building just above Battery Godfrey, in S2 Intelligence for Nike Missile sites at Forts Cronkite and Barry.
Members agreed that our views of the Bridge and the Golden Gate, and our knowledge of Fort Scott history, were forever enhanced by this amazing experience.
For more information about the Fort Scott Batteries, see the NPS website.
Comments