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39-545: The first use of the land for military purposes was as the site of a blockhouse built by Dutch settler David Pieterszen de Vries in 1636 on Signal Hill (now the site of Fort Tompkins), which was burned in an Indian raid of the Peach War in 1655. The site is said to have been continuously garrisoned since another blockhouse was built in 1663, which survived at least through 1808. During the American Revolution

78-863: A palisade with the blockhouse at one corner, and possibly a second tower at the opposite corner. Many historical stone blockhouses have survived, and a few timber ones have been restored at historical sites. In New Zealand, the Cameron Blockhouse , near Whanganui , is one of the few blockhouses to survive from the New Zealand Wars . During the Second Boer War the British forces built a large number of fortifications in South Africa . Around 441 were solid masonry blockhouses, many of which stand today. Different designs were used in

117-508: A few had semi-circular or rectangular platforms. Surviving redoubts with blockhouses include Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq Redoubt and Briconet Redoubt , both of which have a pentagonal plan. A few of the redoubts consisted of a single tower-like blockhouse without a platform, and were known as tour-reduits . Of the four tour-reduits that were built, only the Vendôme Tower survives today. Originally blockhouses were often constructed as part of

156-535: A large plan, to "block" access to vital points in the scheme. But from the Age of Exploration to the nineteenth century standard patterns of blockhouses were constructed for defence in frontier areas, particularly South Africa , New Zealand , Canada , and the United States . Blockhouses may be made of masonry where available, but were commonly made from very heavy timbers , sometimes even logs arranged in

195-598: A modern blockhouse and a bunker is that a bunker is constructed mostly below ground level while a blockhouse is constructed mostly above ground level. Some blockhouses like those constructed in England in 1940 were built in anticipation of a German invasion ; they were often hexagonal in shape and were called " pillboxes ". About 28,000 pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications were constructed, of which about 6,500 still survive. The Admiralty Citadel in London

234-592: A variety of factors to be considered in terms of the effects of the surrounding urban environment on the park ecosystem. Part of Gateway's mission is to preserve and restore the unique natural features of New York and New Jersey. These are some recent and ongoing restoration projects at Gateway: There are approximately 800 historic buildings, structures and sites that Gateway posses. It is challenging to maintain these historic buildings due to current conditions and resources numbers as well as funding. Many of these historic buildings were already in poor condition since Gateway

273-473: Is a 26,607-acre (10,767 ha) U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey . It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bird watching , boating, hiking and camping. More than 8.7 million people visited Gateway National Recreation Area in 2022, making it the fourth-most visited unit of

312-450: Is home to a variety of species of the main biological classes, including amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles, crustaceans, and insects. The species inhabiting these areas have all been able to habituate to the built environments of New York City and New Jersey. The following species can be found throughout all of the different units of the recreation area: As the recreation area has locations throughout New York City and New Jersey, there are

351-613: Is home to ocean beaches, Sandy Hook Bay, salt marshes, the historic Fort Hancock, and the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. At the northern end of the unit lies the Fort Hancock complex, with hiking trails that wind through dunes, ponds, and some of the most valuable bird habitats in New Jersey. The barrier peninsula forms the other side of the "gateway" to New York Harbor, and includes two park sites: The recreation area

390-523: Is located on the southeastern shore of Staten Island facing Lower New York Bay . It includes Hoffman and Swinburne Islands , both off limits to visitation and managed primarily for the benefit of avian species. The unit also includes the following three sites: As for Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, both are artificially constructed islands originally established in the late 19th century as quarantine centers for arriving immigrants at Ellis Island who were suspected to be carrying illnesses. Swinburne Island

429-412: Is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt , or in modern times, be an underground bunker . However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt. The term blockhouse is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle Dutch blokhus and 18th-century French blocus (blockade). Blockhouses existed in ancient Greece, for example

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468-656: Is one of the sturdiest above-ground structures built during World War II. It was constructed in 1940–1941 as a bomb-proof operations centre for the Admiralty , with foundations nine metres deep and a concrete roof six metres thick. It too was intended to serve as a strongpoint in defending against the feared invasion. In Berlin and other cities during World War II some massive blockhouses were built as air-raid shelters and anti-aircraft artillery platforms. They were called Hochbunker (literally, "high bunkers"; better translated as "above ground bunkers", to distinguish them from

507-624: Is the smaller of the two, at 4 acres, whereas Hoffman Island is 11 acres. Both islands are no longer publicly accessible, and now serve primarily as nesting sites for a variety of bird species. Harbor seals have also been spotted on Hoffman and Swinburne Islands during the winter season. Sandy Hook Unit is in Monmouth County in northern New Jersey. The Sandy Hook Unit covers roughly 1,665 acres of land, including 7.5 miles of ocean beaches, sheltered bayside coves, and hundreds of acres of ecologically important barrier beach vegetation. The area

546-594: The Endicott Program , and Fort Tompkins' role in the area's defense ceased. In 1902 the area was designated as Fort Wadsworth , with Fort Richmond (renamed Fort Wadsworth in 1865) becoming Battery Weed . Fort Tompkins was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1979 the Navy acquired the site as part of Naval Station New York , but in 1995 the Navy base was disestablished and

585-625: The National Park Service . Gateway was created by the U.S. Congress in 1972 to preserve and protect scarce or unique natural, cultural, and recreational resources with relatively convenient access by a high percentage of the nation's population. It is owned by the federal government and managed by the National Park Service . Gateway is distinct from other national park units due to its lack of natural buffer zones and that it faces constant environmental changes driven by human activity. The lands and waters of Gateway represent some of

624-649: The Thames Estuary , the Solent , and Plymouth . Often sited in pairs, the blockhouses were not built to a common design, but usually consisted of a stone tower and bastion or gun platform, which could be semi-circular, rectangular or irregular in shape. The last blockhouse of this type was Cromwell's Castle , built in Scilly in 1651. Blockhouses were an ubiquitous feature in Malta 's coastal fortifications built in

663-546: The United States Department of the Interior . U.S. President Richard Nixon put his support behind a very similar proposal in 1970, with one significant change: instead of being designated a "seashore", the protected area would be a national park . In May of that year, the president started the process of getting Congressional approval for this move. The United States House of Representatives approved

702-564: The 18th century by the Order of St. John . Between 1714 and 1716, dozens of batteries and redoubts were built around the coasts of the Maltese Islands, while a few others were built in the subsequent decades. Almost every battery and redoubt had a blockhouse, which served as gun crew accommodation and a place to store munitions. Many of the batteries consisted of a semi-circular or polygonal gun platform, with one or two blockhouses at

741-725: The Fort Wadsworth property became part of the Gateway National Recreation Area under the National Park Service . Blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification , usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes , allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery , air force or cruise missiles . A fortification intended to resist these weapons

780-477: The area became known as the Patriot redoubt Flagstaff Fort ; captured by the British in 1776, it remained in British hands and was expanded by them until the war's end in 1783. The area became the responsibility of New York State in 1806, at which time four forts were built on the site with state resources, being ready for service in 1808 though incomplete. These included the red sandstone Forts Richmond (on

819-522: The burning of Washington, DC in the War of 1812. Some sources state that the new Forts Richmond and Tompkins were initially designed by Robert E. Lee during his tenure as post engineer at Fort Hamilton in the 1840s. Fort Richmond guarded the Narrows against enemy ships with 116 cannon, while Fort Tompkins provided the bulk of the landward defense in the area, with one seaward and four landward fronts. The fort

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858-439: The ceiling, with a bench lining the walls inside for defenders to stand on, so that attackers could not easily reach the loopholes. Blockhouses were normally entered via a sturdy, barred door at ground level. Most blockhouses were roughly square in plan , but some of the more elaborate ones were hexagonal or octagonal , to provide better all-around fire. In some cases, blockhouses became the basis for complete forts, by building

897-577: The construction of these blockhouses, but most were either two or three story structures built using locally quarried stone. However the vast scale of British strategy led the British to develop cheaper, double-skinned corrugated iron structures. These could be prefabricated, delivered to site by armoured train, and then have locally sourced rocks or rubble packed inside the double skin to provide improved protection. A circular design developed by Major Rice in February 1901 had good all round visibility, and

936-422: The cost to build a blockhouse dropped down to £16, compared to several hundred pounds for masonry ones. These blockhouses played a vital role in the protection of the railway lines and bridges that were key to the British military supply lines. During World War I and World War II , many types of blockhouses were built, when time allowed usually constructed of reinforced concrete . The major difference between

975-901: The creation of Gateway National Recreation Area in September 1972, and most of the land was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) for inclusion in Gateway National Recreation Area. In the same vote, the House denied the state's provision to create a housing development at Floyd Bennett Field , which was to be part of the Gateway Area. Gateway National Recreation Area was officially created on October 27, 1972, along with Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco . Gateway included over 26,000 acres (11,000 ha) of land. This excluded some of

1014-513: The ditch, supplemented by a few well-placed flank howitzers . Both forts were ready for service, though still incomplete, when the Civil War broke out in April, 1861. The Fort Tompkins area was important as a mobilization center in the Civil War, and it was further fortified. New York City was not attacked in that war, so the fort did not see action. In the 1890s new gun batteries were built under

1053-467: The federal government's second system of seacoast fortifications , they were not part of the federal program. Federal rebuilding of Forts Richmond and Tompkins did not begin until 1847. Fort Richmond was named for Richmond County, in which Staten Island is located, while Fort Tompkins was named for Daniel D. Tompkins , governor of New York State in the War of 1812 . New York City was not attacked in that war, so

1092-492: The first Fort Tompkins did not see action, although it was improved and the area fortified with up to 900 cannon during that war. By 1835 Forts Richmond and Tompkins had deteriorated to the point that they were declared unfit for use, and the next year the federal government began a decade-long process of purchasing them. In 1847 total reconstructions of both forts began, under the federal third system of seacoast fortifications , an across-the-board program of new forts sparked by

1131-449: The lack of corners did away with the need for a substructure. Failure due to wood rot and splintering when hit by bullets or shrapnel were eliminated. The steel door to the blockhouse was sheltered by another piece of corrugated iron. The Major Rice blockhouse could be erected in six hours by six trained men. With the change from square gabled roofs to a circular design, they were given the nickname "Pepperpot blockhouse". With mass production

1170-705: The land proposed by the RPA, including the Coney Island shore. The recreation area comprises three units and 11 park sites in all. Primary law enforcement in the Gateway National Recreation Area is the responsibility of the United States Park Police in the New York units, and National Park Service Rangers in the New Jersey unit. Jamaica Bay Unit , in Brooklyn and Queens , includes much of

1209-661: The last remnants of the original shoreline. Annual visitation is estimated at around 8 million people. In 2001, the Jamaica Bay and Staten Island Units in New York drew more than 6 million visitors, while the Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey attracted over 1 million. In 1969, the Regional Plan Association proposed a new national seashore in the New York metropolitan area , to be administered by

Fort Tompkins (Staten Island) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-471: The manner of a log cabin . They were usually two or even three floors , with all storeys being provided with embrasures or loopholes, and the uppermost storey would be roofed. If the structure was of timber, usually the upper storey would project outward from the lower so the upper storey defenders could fire on enemies attacking the lower storey, or perhaps pour water on any fires. When the structure had only one storey, its loopholes were often placed close to

1287-586: The one near Mycenae . Early blockhouses were designed solely to protect a particular area by the use of artillery, and they had accommodation only for the short-term use of the garrison. The first known example is the Cow Tower, Norwich , built in 1398, which was of brick and had three storeys with the upper storeys pierced for six guns each. The major period of construction was in the maritime defence programmes of Henry VIII between 1539 and 1545. They were built to protect important maritime approaches such as

1326-411: The rear. The blockhouses usually had musketry loopholes, and in some cases were linked together by redans . Surviving batteries include Mistra Battery and Ferretti Battery , which both have two blockhouses, and Saint Mary's Battery and Saint Anthony's Battery , which have a single blockhouse. Many of the redoubts consisted of a pentagonal platform with a rectangular blockhouse at the rear, although

1365-693: The shoreline and water below the Shore Parkway beginning at Plum Beach and ending at John F. Kennedy International Airport , along with several dozen islands in Jamaica Bay , a tidal estuary . The Jamaica Bay Unit is the largest of the three units.It also includes most of the western part of the Rockaway Peninsula , which separates Jamaica Bay from the Atlantic Ocean . Among the sites in this unit are: The Staten Island Unit

1404-510: The site now called Battery Weed ) and Tompkins, on the sites of the current forts but of different design, along with Forts Morton and Hudson , with positions for a total of 164 guns in the four forts. Fort Tompkins at that time included a red sandstone enclosure containing the 1663 blockhouse. Fort Richmond was initially semicircular while Fort Tompkins was a regular pentagon with circular bastions, both very different from their Third System replacements. Although these forts were contemporary with

1443-524: The usual deep i.e. underground air raid shelters) and those that functioned as anti-aircraft artillery platforms were also called Flak towers . Some were over six stories high; several survive to this day because of the high cost of demolition. The Hochbunker Pallasstraße  [ de ] in Berlin- Schöneberg has a post-war block of flats built over it. During the Cold War the shelter

1482-404: Was in the shape of a wide rectangle with a shallow "V" on the landward side. It was unusual in having no embrasures for cannon in the main fort. A seacoast cannon battery was mounted on the roof of the seacoast front, and the rest of the fort had only musket loopholes . It had a ditch on the landward sides with tunnels to counterscarp galleries providing additional musket fire against enemies in

1521-549: Was in use as a NATO foodstore. In the guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), a network of blockhouses was constructed to protect the railways from guerrilla attacks. Blockhouses and coordinated road systems were used in the encirclement campaigns of Chiang Kai-shek against the Chinese Communist Party . Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area

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