Plans for this fort started around the Civil War era, to protect New York City from any assault that may be coming in from the Long Island Sound. At some spots, the walls are up to three feet thick to withstand an attack. However, advances in technology quickly made the fort obsolete, and its functions transferred to other things.
As of modern day, it has become a park only a few years prior, though many of the historic areas remain fenced off. The NYC Fire Department has had its training facilities here as of late, and many firetrucks can be seen cruising around the peninsula.
It's not
the first abandoned military base I've been to, but my largest group to date (nine people) decided to see if there was anything good up in that section of town. You can judge that for yourself.
Below you can see century old graffiti. One recent installation is a motion sensor, which, when tripped, will light up the tunnel.
The abandoned fortifications are just a climb away.
Our group had to navigate through all that foliage only to later find out that we could have taken the tunnel that was shown earlier and wouldn't have to cut through thorny plants.
Then came this building, presumably the hospital the I have heard is on this Fort, but don't take my word for it. Our group was so large that we split up and went in groups of twos and threes while the rest lagged back and kept an eye out for our "friends in white suits". Meanwhile, the smaller groups clambered inside by way of a climb that got us in through a windowsill on the second floor.
We delegated about 15 minutes to each group to explore the building, which had a busted ceiling and a decaying floor. After the next group went in, I realized that I had lost my camera. Second time this week. I ran back over the fence and of member of our party says that it had snagged perfectly onto a plant vine. Three guards walked by, side by side, oblivious to our infiltration of the building.
"You guys are the worst guards ever!", one of my friends shouted.
I tried to shush her, but she boasted,
"They can't hear me from here."
I climbed back at a side of the fence that was hidden by a firetruck, and made my way over to the ground.
Throughout the whole trip, we had navigated our way around six guards, each of whom had stepped within at least thirty feet of the building's perimeter, but we were only spotted when the last group made their way over.
A lady who had been watching from her parked car honked very loudly and we, briskly but calmly, walked away with the setting sun.
