1850 - Ft. Warren, Georges Island - Boston, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 19.237 W 070° 55.698
19T E 341104 N 4687175
Fort Warren, built in 1850, is a complete fort at the mouth of Boston Harbor and as used in the Civil War as a prison for Confederates.
Waymark Code: WMPM7Y
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 09/18/2015
Views: 3
In Boston's Harbor, on Georges Island, is Fort Warren, built in 1850.
The fort is located at the mouth of the harbor, approximately halfway between the peninsulas of Hull to the south and Deer Island to the north. The island can be accessed by boat only - there is a dock where ferries, water taxis and other boats arrive. The fort is a complete structure and is open for at least three seasons of the year (the ferries run from May to October). You can explore most sections, and there are free guided tours available.
The dated stone is located over the main tunnel entrance to the inside of the fort, on the northwest part. There is a wide path from the visitor center to the tunnel. The letters are raised and simply state:
"1850
Fort Warren"
From the Friends of Boston Harbor Islands web site:
"Fort Warren was built from 1833 to 1861 and was completed shortly after the beginning of the American Civil War. The Army engineer in charge during the bulk of the fort's construction was Colonel Sylvanus Thayer best known for his tenure as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. During the Civil War, the island fort served as a prison for captured Confederate army and navy personnel, elected civil officials from the state of Maryland, as well as Northern political prisoners....The prison camp had a reputation for humane treatment of its detainees.
...Fort Warren remained active through the Spanish-American War and World War I. The fort was modified in the late 1890s through the beginning of the twentieth century to accommodate the newer rifled ordnance then being developed for coastal defense... Fort Warren was permanently decommissioned after 1950.(source: wikipedia)"
Sources:
NPS (Facts about Georges Island):
(
visit link)
Friends of Boston Harbor Islands (Ft. Warren):
(
visit link)
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