
Fort Entrance
On this web page, you will tour inside the Fort Grounds as present-day tours are held. Of course, it is always better to see the tour in person!
The Entrance to the Fort has two heavy doors and a sliding metal gate that were used to trap invading soldiers. On both sides of the entrance, inside this trap, the original builder made cuts in granite so soldiers could fire their guns at anyone trapped inside these now-locked doors.

Upon entering the main entrance and turning left, you will enter the first door into the Fort. This area is used as a living quarters for some officers and their families. This upgraded work done during some of the Phase 2 renovations in 1976 can be seen below. The second room is a Model Room with great donated models and pictures given to the Castle Island Association.


Parade Grounds
When the Fort was originally built, water wells were dug 94 feet below ground to provide “clear drinking water” on the Island.

Bakery
During Phase 2 of the renovations in the 1970s, the bakery was restored to replicate its original conditions. The image above shows the existing and new brickwork, the original brick floor, a firebox, an ash door, and a vent damper to control oven temperature. The original floor has been chipped away by the moving of wood and ash over the years.
The bakery is where “bread of the best quality” was baked daily for over 500 men during the Civil War. The regular mess used goods from local gardens on the Island, and through purchases from the “market boats,” civilian crafts were allowed to use the pier to sell supplies to the garrison. In 1862, a U.S. Army private by the name of Ira S. Pettit wrote in his diary, “The young recruit speaks very highly of the bread baked at the Fort, but laments there was ‘no cake or pie.'” There were cows on the Island, but privates did not rank high enough to get milk from the cows for their coffee.
Taken from Castle Island and Fort Independence a book by William J. Reid

Ramp
This ramp is the only way wheeled vehicles can access the ramparts. Along the ramp are flags of various colonial militia units and those bearing a particular significance to the Fort.
The first flag is the Bedford Flag, the oldest militia flag in the U.S. It was the flag carried by the Bedford Minuteman, Nathaniel Page, to the Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775. The original Bedford Flag was designed for Massachusetts Bay militia cavalry troops early in the colonial struggle for the continent, now called the “French and Indian Wars.”

Front IV
You are now on ramparts and will begin seeing the extensive view from the Fort of the surrounding area as we walk along this upper level. This front overlooks Pleasure Bay and Dorchester Harbor, with the Dorchester Heights monument in the background. If you continue to look left, you can see John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Dorchester Gas Tank, and Blue Hills Reservation. To the right, you can see the Old North Church Tower and Bunker Hill monument.

On the inner wall, the story of the American flag is represented by the accession of flags from the early American flag to the transformation to our current 50-star flag.
A brief history of Blue Hills: More than ten thousand years before the Europeans arrived, Native Americans made the Blue Hills area their home. The natives referred to themselves as Massachusett, or “people of the great hills.”
Front V

This front shows the flags of the six branches of the U.S. military: Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and the new U.S. Space Force. After the Armed Forces flags, a collection of individual flags of the 50 states is presented in the order in which they joined the Union.

Pictured below is an 8-inch Civil War siege gun with a range of 1,200 yards situated in the center of this front. Approximately 50% of the fired shells would land within a 50-yard radius of the target.

Bastion A
To enter Bastion A, descend a short tunnel under the protective dirt bunker. This tunnel takes you from the inner rampart to the external battery. You will then see two-gun emplacements for two 15-inch Rodman coast defense cannons. The original cannons are gone, but one replica is mounted here to show the cannons’ range and line of sight.

This positioning of the guns gave the troops a sweeping view of the Inner Harbor Entrance to prevent any ships from entering it. Both guns had a perfect line of sight of any vessel coming straight down the main ship channel, and the cannon on the right side could also prevent ships from coming up between Spectacle Island and Thompson Island by sneaking around Long Island.

Up at the gun’s muzzle, you have a sweeping panoramic view from south to east: University of Massachusetts Boston, John F Kennedy Library, Blue Hills, Squantum, Thompson Island, the northern edge of Moon Island, and Spectacle Island.
Walkway

After leaving this first bastion (Bastion A), we head north along the iron walkway that overhangs the inner wall, considering that the soldiers had no such steel walkway or rail to prevent them from falling. This walkway was part of Phase 1 renovation in the 1970s, allowing tours to go through this area.
Here is where the presentation of the 50 state flags finally ends. Hawaii and Alaska were the last states to join the Union in 1959. We now start with the flags of some of this country’s territories. You can look at the NPS for more details for all 50 states and territories.
Bastion B
When walking into Basation A, you will see two gun mounts for two Rodman 15-inch cannons, just like Bastion B. This area commands a sweeping view of Inner Boston Harbor and what would have been Boston Neck.
In the immediate foreground is Logan Airport on what used to be Governor’s Island, Apple Island, and Bird Island. The airfield opened in 1923 as Miltary Airfield and was called Jeffery Field. A big expansion was completed in 1949 and renamed to Logan Airport.

This great look going down the Main Channel to inner Boston harbor
McKay Monument
In 1845, McKay established a shipyard in East Boston that made some of the fastest clipper ships in history for over 25 years. The clipper ship design featured a narrow vessel with a concave bow that rode over the waves without plowing through them. McKay’s ships always carried a generous sail plan to power the ship. The cargo capacity of the clippers was limited, but their speed made the vessels economically viable. The California Gold Rush and trade with China intensified this quest for speed, and McKay met this demand with his innovative ships. For more information, here is a link to the Museum of Fine Arts with a model and facts about his state-of-the-art ship, the Flying Cloud.


Importance for Fort Independence During the Civil War
During this period, the Civil War, many foundries and machine shops were located along Fort Point Channel; the most important was the South Boston Iron Works. This company had been forging cannons since the War of 1812; they went on a 7-day, 24-hour work spree during the Civil War. After being cast or forged, the cannons were loaded onto barges or sloops and taken to Castle Island for test firing. In assessing the Fort’s contribution to the Civil War, one can conclude that the most important activity was testing weaponry before sending it out to defend the Union.
To see images going back to 1940, check out the Archive Gallery,
Resources used for this Article:
Castle Island and Fort Independence book by William Reid
This book can be borrowed at the Boston Public Library or purchased through the Castle Island Association
https://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/fort-independence-2005-06-01