Existing comment:
Many of the hills around the bay were positions used for protective artillery batteries in an age when those could actually protect the port from foreign ships. They became obsolete once bombers and missiles came into their own.
Battery East: These gun emplacements were part of a 3/4-mile line of earthworks guarding the Bay entrance. Battery East was started in 1870 but lack of funds halted construction in 1876. Only five of the proposed sixteen guns were mounted here.
Ammunition and supplies for the guns were stored in underground magazines.
In the late 1890's, hidden firepower in scattered, new concrete harbor defense batteries began to replace these earthen works and the vulnerable masonry forts such as Fort Point. |