| Fort Heath | |
|---|---|
| Part ofHarbor Defenses of Boston | |
| location:Winthrop Highlands[1] atGrovers Cliff[2] | |
 Southeastward view with the face ofGrovers Cliff along foreground shore, large rectangular white area[specify] on west (right). Pictured items not on the 1921 map include the roads through the barracks area connecting to the off-post intersection that is now the Highland Av & Pond St intersection (right). | |
| Site information | |
| Type | coastal artillery site and radio/radar station eponym: GeneralWilliam Heath (Continental Army)[3] namesake: Fort Heath Apartments |
| Owner | private and municipal |
| Condition | private apartment complex and municipal park |
| Location | |
  Fort Heath Location in Massachusetts | |
| Coordinates | 42°23′19″N70°58′09″W / 42.38861°N 70.96917°W /42.38861; -70.96917 |
| Site history | |
| Built | c. 1898 |
| In use | 1898–1966 |
| Demolished | 1947 – buildings[citation needed] 1969 – control site tbd – nuclear bunker 1979–1980 – FAA radar & building |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II Cold War |
Fort Heath was aUS seacoast military installation for defense of theBoston andWinthrop Harbors with an early 20th-centuryCoast Artillery fort, a 1930s USCG radio station, prewar naval research facilities,World War II batteries, and aCold War radar station. The fort was part of theHarbor Defenses of Boston (Coast Defenses of Boston 1913–1925) and was garrisoned by theUnited States Army Coast Artillery Corps. The fort's military structures have been replaced by a residential complex, including the luxurious Forth Heath Apartments, and recreation facilities ofSmall Park, which has both a commemorative wall and an historical marker for Fort Heath.
The Grover Cliff geodetic survey station marker was emplaced in 1847 (42°23′22.79″N070°58′08.643″W / 42.3896639°N 70.96906750°W /42.3896639; -70.96906750, lost by 1922),[4] and the military site was renamedGrover's Cliff Military Reservation in 1895.[5] November 1890 planning for the military site was for 3 artillery rifles and 16 mortars,[6] and by spring 1898 Lieutenant Sewail was in charge of construction.[1] A spur of theBoston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad was built to the site by 29 March,[7] bids for lumber were received in April,[8] and the "Winthrop Mortar Batteries" of the regular army[9] (Battery F and Battery M) were ordered to Grovers Cliff in May 1898[10] for the 16 mortars, with the batteries encamping 16 May on Cherry Street in Boston.[9] Constructed during theEndicott modernization period for fortifications, "the first concrete foundation for one of the disappearing guns at Grovers Cliff" was complete in May 1898,[11] and in 1900 the installation was renamedFort Heath.[5]
BatteryTheodore Winthrop construction was complete by 1901 with three12-inch M1888 guns on M1896disappearing carriages, the heaviest guns in theUnited States Army Coast Artillery Corps at the time.[14] "Major Morris of theSeventh Heavy Artillery"[15] was the initial commander,[10] and "Batteries P and O of the Regular Army" manned the guns.[16] Additional land was considered in 1901 for a Fort Heath garrison[17] (temporary barracks were on the west side in 1921),[18] and the fort was inspected by theOrdnance Department in 1902.[19]
Fort Heath was a secondary station for a 1907 naval exercise,[20] and in 1908 theMassachusetts Volunteer Militia had a Fort Heath unit.[21] In 1908 the fort had a "range-finders house" and a sea wall was considered[22] (constructed on the south shore by February 1921).[18] In 1917 a "duct line" betweenFort Banks and Fort Heath was contracted toNew England Telephone and Telegraph,[23] and for 3 batteries—Winthrop and Battery Kellogg & Battery Lincoln at Ft Banks—Ft Heath had the primary base end stations and the Battery Commanders' stations[24] (a commander's station was atop the Fort Heathparapet).[25]
After the 1925 renaming of the Coast Defenses of Boston to theHarbor Defenses of Boston,[26] the fort's ammunition hoists were authorized for disposal in January 1932.[citation needed] A federal survey marker ("MY0121—GROVERS") was set in the roof of the southernmost of the three fire control buildings at the fort in line at the northern end of Battery Winthrop. The marker on the "BC" (battery control) structure is roughly indicated on the 1921 map. Gun No. 3 (the most westerly[clarification needed] one) of Battery Winthrop was about 120 ft. southeast of this marker, and the line between this gun and Gun No. 1 (the most easterly one) was 270 ft. in length.[failed verification]
TheUnited States Coast Guard radio station at Fort Heath (call sign "NMF") opened on 12 November 1931, and was initially used for testing "traffic…relayed fromPoint Bonita, California." The station had three 50-foot masts in 1934 (e.g., "Heath Northwest Radio Mast")[27] but as a trial for determining if Navy facilities could instead handle USCG radio traffic, the "station at Winthrop" closed from 1934 to 1936.[28] Subsequently, operating "until 1939 when the site was taken over by the Army", the USCG equipment "relocated to a former intelligence monitoringstation at North Truro, Massachusetts."[28]
Antiaircraft Battery No. 4 was designated in 1935 after the third gun pad was constructed in 1934 for3-inch (76 mm) AA guns.[5] The first two gun pads were built during World War I. The three emplacements were south of a surveillance radar and west of the "Theo. Winthrop"[18] foundations, and the three guns were approved on 8 January 1942 to be moved toFort Ruckman.[5]
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The United States Navy Field Test Station, Fort Heath, was established by 1938 and included aMassachusetts Institute of Technology research facility for "fire-control systems"[29] (cf.Army Signal Corps radar research at theTwin Lights station at the New Jersey Highlands).
Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battery 945 at the eastern tip of Fort Heath (42°23′18″N70°58′01″W / 42.388281°N 70.966822°W /42.388281; -70.966822)[30] covered the northern harbor approaches with a pair of90 mm Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) guns, and the HHB 3rd Battalion of the9th Coast Artillery Regiment was activated at Fort Heath on 1 June 1941.[31] From September–November 1941 the camouflage training school for the First Coast Artillery District was conducted by the Corps of Engineers at Fort Heath.[32] Gun No. 1 (42°23′17″N70°58′01″W / 42.387972°N 70.967081°W /42.387972; -70.967081 (Ft Heath WWII gun #1))[33] was north of the second gun,[specify] and Battery 945 was declared surplus on 28 December 1943[citation needed] (a very large apartment building is on the Battery 945 position.)[failed verification]
TheFort Heath radar station was aNORAD Control Center of theUnited States Air Force andUS Army from 1960–9 for coordinating interceptors of theBoston Air Defense Sector andProject Nikesurface-to-air missiles of theBoston and Providence Defense Areas. From 1959 to 1962 the820th Radar Squadron, which was renamed anAircraft Control and Warning Squadron in 1961, operated the Air Force portion of the facility. The station also had anFAAARSR-1AAir Route Surveillance Radar, and the air defense control site was demolished in 1969[34][35]: 350–351 (the bunker remained in 1971),[36] and after a Rhode Island AN/TSQ-51 had opened by 1 July 1970,[37]Project Concise closed the remaining Nike batteries in 1974.[citation needed]
The FAA operated the ARSR-1 until the mid-to-late[specify] 1990s,[38] and by 2005, the "Fort Heath property" acquired by the town had been converted to a municipal park.[39] The fort land is aFormerly Used Defense Site (MA19799F184300).[40]
| External images | |
|---|---|
 1938 map with AAA emplacements | |
| 155 mm cannon under construction | |
| AMTB Battery 945 |
Lieutenant Sewail,[verification needed] who is overseeing the work of erecting fortification at Grover's Cliff, Winthrop Highlands, and getting in readiness for defence the batteries atFort Warren andLong Island…
Fort Heath was in a section of the town called the Highlands. This area was hilly compared to the rest of the town.Winthrop Beach ended its northward trek as the land began to get hillier and rockier, ending in a headland in the Highlands known as Grover's Cliff
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research AgencyLost Stations...Grover Cliff, 1847
On the high land in Winthrop, back of Grover's Cliff, three batteries will be built, one [with] three 10-inch breech rifles, and two with 12-inch mortars, sixteen in all.
Excavations Will Be Completed by the End of This Month—Regulars at Winthrop Mortar Battery Comfortably Settled … The excavations for the platform for the first or lower gun is completed and the masonry for the platform has taken shape and will soon be completed. Yesterday [May 16] the regulars came in to man the sixteen guns in the mortar battery. Cherry street, a private way leading in to the battery, has been turned into a camp.
…Fort Slocum, New York, where theSeventh United States Artillery is being organized… Battery F, Seventh, has been ordered to Grovers Cliff and Battery G of the same regiment toFort Warren, while Battery M, now at Fort Warren, will go to Grovers Cliff. This will very much strengthen the mortar batteries at Grovers Cliff of which Major Charles Morris, Seventh, will have charge. Major Carl A. Woodruff,Second, has been assigned to command thegeneral defenses of Boston Harbor.
Capt. H. D. Todd, Jr., Coast Artillery Corps, fire commander (northern battle command), Fort Heath, Mass. … Col. Charles P. Nutter, commanding Coast Artillery Corps, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, Fort Heath, Mass.
Harbor Defense Command was the name given after 1925 to the coastal
"After negotiations with the War Department in 1930, the Coast Guard was granted permission to erect a radio station [at Fort Heath, and it] was placed in commission at 10:00 a.m. on 12 November 1931. …call sign "NMF"… On the initial test, stations along the east coast were worked with ease, and traffic was relayed from Point Bonita, California. The station at Winthrop was closed experimentally from 1 September 1934 until 17 September 1936 and an attempt was made to pass all Coast Guard messages through Navy facilities. The experiment clearly indicated a need for the Coast Guard to provide its own radio facilities.
The instructor was First Lieutenant Walter Krotee, sent from the faculty of the Engineer School atFort Belvoir, Virginia.
Became a MISSILE MASTER control site in the 1950s (demolished 1969). The FAA obtained a radar site here from 1965 to 1986
In 1958, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) constructed long-range acquisition radar at Fort Heath. Commissioned in 1959, theARSR-1 radar was used to track aircraft 220 miles distant for flight-following" purposes. …the army and air force also used this surveillance radar forAir Defense Control and Coordination Systems (ADCCS).
The acquisition of the Fort Heath property and its conversion to a magnificent park with an unequaled view was truly a milestone
Former military forts, reservations, and camps inMassachusetts | ||
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| Forts |
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| Reservations | ||
| Camps | ||
