View source for Fort Point National Historic Site

{{Short description|Fort in San Francisco, California}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Fort Point National Historic Site
| photo = Golden Gate Bridge tower views 07.jpg
| photo_alt = 
| photo_caption = Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge
| photo_width = 
| map =  United States San Francisco#San Francisco Bay Area#California#USA
| map_alt = 
| map_caption = 
| map_width = 
| relief = yes
| label = Fort Point
| label_position = right
| location = 
| nearest_city = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
| coordinates = {{coord|37|48|38|N|122|28|38|W|display=inline, title}}
| area_acre = 29
| established = 16 October 1970
| visitation_num = 1,682,041
| visitation_year = 2005
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]]
| world_heritage_site = 
| website = [https://www.nps.gov/fopo/index.htm Fort Point National Historic Site]
| child = 
| embedded ={{Infobox military installation
 | name = Fort Point
 | ensign = Coast Artilliary Insignia.png
 | native_name = Fort Winfield Scott
 | partof = <!-- for elements within a larger site -->
 | location = 
 | nearest_town = [[San Francisco]], [[California]]
 | country = [[United States]]
 | image = 
 | alt = 
 | caption = 
 | image2 = <!--secondary image, major command emblems for airfields -->
 | alt2 = 
 | caption2 = 
 | type = [[Seacoast defense in the United States|Harbor defense]] installation 
 | gridref = 
 | ownership = [[United States Army]]
 | operator = <!-- where different from ownership such as the RAF or the USAF -->
 | controlledby = [[6th Air Defense Artillery Regiment]]
 | open_to_public = <!-- for out of use sites/sites with museums etc -->
 | site_other_label = <!-- for renaming "Other facilities" in infobox -->
 | site_other = <!-- for other sorts of facilities - radar types etc -->  
 | site_area = <!-- area of site m2, km2 square mile etc -->
 | code = <!--facility/installation code, applies to US -->
 | built = {{Start date|1861}}
 | used = <!--{{End date|1946}} -->
 | builder = 
 | materials = 
 | height = <!-- height of tallest part, not above sea level -->
 | length = <!-- for border fences or other DMZs -->
 | fate = Decommission 1970
 | condition = 
 | battles = 
 | events = 
 | embed=yes
 | current_commander = <!-- current commander -->
 | past_commanders = <!-- past notable commander(s) -->
 | garrison = <!-- such as the 25th Bombardment Group -->
 | occupants = <!-- squadrons only -->
 | website = 
 | footnotes = <!-- catchall in case it's needed to preserve something in infobox that doesn't work in new code -->
}}
{{designation list
  | embed=yes
  | designation1=California
  | designation1_number=82
  | designation1_offname=Castillo De San Joaquín<ref name=CHL/>
  | designation2 = NRHP
  | designation2_date = 10/16/1970
  | designation2_number = 70000146<ref name="NRHP">{{cite web|title=NPGallery Digital Asset Management System|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/70000146|website=npgallery.nps.gov|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=5 December 2017|language=en}}</ref>
}}

}}
'''Fort Point''', known historically as the '''Castillo de San Joaquín''' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for "Saint [[Joachim]]'s Castle") is a masonry [[Seacoast defense in the United States|seacoast fortification]] located on the southern side of the [[Golden Gate]] at the entrance to [[San Francisco Bay]]. It is also the geographic name of the [[promontory]] upon which the fort and the southern approach of the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] were constructed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:2:0::NO:RP:: |title=Fort Point, ID 223701, Geographic Names Information System USGS |access-date=2018-12-04 |archive-date=2018-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913073942/https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:2:0::NO:RP:: |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The site was originally fortified by the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] in 1794 as a complementary defense outpost to the [[Presidio of San Francisco]]. The current structure was completed by the [[United States Army]] after the [[Conquest of California|U.S. conquest of California]] and just before the [[American Civil War]], to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships. The fort is now protected as '''Fort Point National Historic Site''', a [[National Historic Site (United States)|United States National Historic Site]] administered by the [[National Park Service]] as a unit of the [[Golden Gate National Recreation Area]]. It is now popular as a tourist viewing point of the Golden Gate Bridge directly on top of it.

==History==
[[File:Castillo_de_San_Joaquín_(model).jpg|thumb|left|Model of the Castillo de San Joaquín, built by the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] in 1794.]]
In 1769 Spain occupied the San Francisco area and by 1776 had established the area's first European settlement, with a [[Mission San Francisco de Asís|mission]] and a [[Presidio of San Francisco|presidio]]. To protect against encroachment by the British and Russians, Spain selected ''Punta del Cantil Blanco'', a promontory with a high white cliff (''cantil blanco'') located at the narrowest part of the bay's entrance,<ref>[https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/hornbeck_spa_1_a/43/ ''Plano del Puerto de San Francisco'', Jose de Cañizares, 1776, Archivo Cartografico y de Estudios Geograficos, Madrid, Spain, Digital Commons]</ref> to construct a fortification.  The ''Castillo de San Joaquín'' was constructed in 1794, subordinate to the nearby Presidio de San Francisco.  It was an [[adobe]] structure housing nine to thirteen cannons.<ref>[http://www.militarymuseum.org/CastilloSanJoaquin.html ''Castillo de San Joaquin'', California State Military Museums, California Military Department, Sacramento]</ref>

[[Mexican War of Independence|Mexico won independence]] from Spain in 1821, gaining control of the region and the fort, but in 1835 the [[Mexican army]] moved to [[Sonoma, California|Sonoma]] leaving the castillo's adobe walls to crumble in the wind and rain. On July 1, 1846, after the [[Mexican–American War]] broke out between Mexico and the United States, U.S. forces, including Captain [[John Charles Fremont]], [[Kit Carson]] and a band of 10 followers, captured and occupied the empty castillo and [[Touch hole|spiked]] (disabled) the cannons.

Sometime during the Spanish and Mexican eras, the ''Punta del Cantil Blanco'' came to be known as the "Punta del Castillo" ("Castle Point"),<ref>[https://archive.org/details/sixtyyearsincali00davirich/page/6/mode/2up ''Sixty Years In California'', by William Heath Davis, publ. 1889. p.6 (Internet Archive)]</ref> which was carried over into the era of U.S. sovereignty, in rough translation, as "Fort Point".

===U.S. era===
Following the United States' victory in 1848, [[California]] was annexed by the U.S. and became a state in 1850. The [[California Gold Rush|gold rush]] of 1849 had caused rapid settlement of the area, which was recognized as commercially and strategically valuable to the United States. Military officials soon recommended a series of fortifications to secure San Francisco Bay. Coastal defenses were built at [[Alcatraz Island]], [[Fort Mason]], and Fort Point.

The U.S. [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] began work on Fort Point in 1853. Plans specified that the lowest tier of artillery be as close as possible to water level so cannonballs could ricochet across the water's surface to hit enemy ships at the water-line.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/goga/historyculture/fort-point.htm |title=Fort Point, 1846–1876 |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=January 2, 2011}}</ref> Workers blasted the {{convert|90|ft|m|adj=on}} cliff down to {{convert|15|ft|m}} above sea level. The structure featured seven-foot-thick walls and multi-tiered casemated construction typical of [[Seacoast defense in the United States#Third system|Third System]] forts. It was sited to defend the maximum amount of harbor area. While there were more than 30 such forts on the East Coast, Fort Point was the only one on the West Coast. In 1854 Inspector General [[Joseph K. Mansfield]] declared "this point as the key to the whole Pacific Coast...and it should receive untiring exertions".

A crew of 200, many unemployed miners, labored for eight years on the fort. In 1861, with war looming, the army mounted the fort's first cannon. Colonel [[Albert Sidney Johnston]], commander of the Department of the Pacific, prepared Bay Area defenses and ordered in the first troops to the fort. Kentucky-born Johnston then resigned his commission to join the [[Confederate Army]]; he was killed at the [[Battle of Shiloh]] in 1862.

===Fort Point and the Civil War===
Throughout the Civil War, artillerymen at Fort Point stood guard for an enemy that never came. The [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] raider [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] planned to attack San Francisco, but on the way to the harbor the captain learned that the war was over; it was August 1865, months after [[Conclusion of the American Civil War|General Lee surrendered]].

Severe damage to similar forts on the Atlantic Coast during the war – [[Fort Sumter]] in [[South Carolina]] and [[Fort Pulaski]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] – challenged the effectiveness of masonry walls against rifled artillery. Troops soon moved out of Fort Point, and it was never again continuously occupied by the army. The fort was nonetheless important enough to receive protection from the elements. In 1869 a granite seawall was completed. The following year, some of the fort's cannon were moved to Battery East on the bluffs nearby, where they were more protected. In 1882 Fort Point was officially named Fort [[Winfield Scott]] after the hero of the war against Mexico.  in 1886, it reverted back to its original Fort Point name with the establishment of a new fort within the Presidio of San Francisco that was then named Fort Winfield Scott.

===Into a new century===
In 1892, the army began constructing the new [[Endicott Board|Endicott System]] concrete fortifications armed with steel, breech-loading rifled guns. Within eight years, all 103 of the smooth-bore cannons at Fort Point had been dismounted and sold for scrap. The fort, moderately damaged in the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]], where the fort was used as a temporary refugee camp by the U.S. Army, was used over the next four decades for [[barracks]], training, and storage, however, in 1913, part of the interior wall was removed by the army in their short-lived attempt to make the fort the army detention barracks using soldier and prisoner labor{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}}. The detention barracks were later built on Alcatraz Island and was used until becoming a federal prison. Soldiers from the [[6th U.S. Coast Artillery]] were stationed there during [[World War II]] to guard minefields and the anti-submarine net that spanned the Golden Gate.

New quarters and administrative buildings were constructed on the higher ground, behind the new Endicott batteries, moving Fort Scott to this location.

<gallery widths="200px">
File:Fort Point 1934.jpg|Fort Point in 1934, Golden Gate Bridge under construction
File:Fort Point under bridge.jpg|View from under bridge.
File:A general view of the northwest wall, in relation to the Fort Point arch of the golden gate bridge. View to southwest. - Fort Point, U.S. Highway 101, San Francisco, San HABS CAL,38-SANFRA,4-54.tif|A general view of the northwest wall, in relation to the Fort Point arch of the golden gate bridge.
File:A view toward the southwest corner of the interior, showing the octagonal wooden structure atop the southwest circular staircase. - Fort Point, U.S. Highway 101, San Francisco, HABS CAL,38-SANFRA,4-60.tif|A view toward the southwest corner of the interior, showing the octagonal wooden structure atop the southwest circular staircase.
</gallery>

===Preserving Fort Point===
In 1926 the [[American Institute of Architects]] proposed preserving the fort for its outstanding military architecture. Funds were unavailable, and the ideas languished. Plans for the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] in the 1930s called for the fort's removal, but Chief Engineer [[Joseph Strauss (engineer)|Joseph Strauss]] redesigned the bridge to save {{nowrap|the fort.<ref name=ofstst>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=egwrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tZoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6376%2C6613071 |work=Reading Eagle |location=Pennsylvania |agency=Copley News Service |title=Old fort still stands |date=October 19, 1972 |page=19}}</ref>}} "While the old fort has no military value now," Strauss said, "it remains nevertheless a fine example of the mason's art.... It should be preserved and restored as a national monument." The fort is situated directly below the southern approach to the bridge, underneath an arch that supports the roadway.

Preservation efforts were revived after [[World War II]]. On October 16, 1970, [[Richard Nixon|President Richard Nixon]] signed a bill creating Fort Point National {{nowrap|Historic Site.<ref name=ofstst/>}}

<gallery widths="200">
File:Fortpointcanons02-012006.JPG|Middle level of Fort Point
File:Fortpoint02-01-2006.JPG|Cannons on display at Fort Point
File:Fort Point, September 2019-8795.jpg|Interior of Fort Point
File:The interior of Fort Point.jpg|The courtyard of the fort
</gallery>
[[File:Fort Point Stairs.jpg|thumb|
Circular stairway at Fort Point.  Photographed about 1975.
]]

===Landmark status===
Fort Point is designated as [[California Historical Landmark]] #82, officially listed under the site's original name, Castillo De San Joaquín.<ref name=CHL>{{cite ohp|82|Castillo De San Joaquín|2012-10-14}}</ref>

===Recreation===
The rocky point north of the fort produces waves, in the winter months, that are popular with surfers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/19/surfing-under-the-golden-gate-bridge/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121012738/http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/19/surfing-under-the-golden-gate-bridge/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 21, 2016|title=Beneath the Golden Gate, a Rare Break Draws (Experienced) Surfers|last=Joiner|first=James|date=2016-01-19|website=Beyond the Edge|publisher=National Geographic|access-date=2017-02-26}}</ref>

==Media use==
[[File:Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point 2009b.jpg|thumb|Approach to the fort]]
[[File:Golden Gate Bridge deck - Fort Point 01.jpg|thumb|The fort from the Golden Gate Bridge deck]]
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2013}}
Fort Point is a popular filming location. It is also mentioned in other media.

===In film===
*In ''[[Dark Passage]]'' (1947), a fight scene with [[Humphrey Bogart]] on the bluff above the fort ends with his opponent falling to his death in what is now the fort's parking lot.
* In the 1950 film ''[[The Man Who Cheated Himself]]'', there is a five-minute search scene near the end of the film that was filmed at Fort Point and shows many shots of the fort.
* In [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s 1958 thriller ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'', [[Kim Novak]]'s character jumps here into the San Francisco Bay in a suicide attempt.
*  In ''[[Point Blank (1967 film)|Point Blank]]'', the 1967 [[John Boorman]] noir movie starring [[Lee Marvin]] and [[Angie Dickinson]], it is shown as the location for the "Alcatraz Drop" at the closed [[Alcatraz Prison]].  However, in the final scene a continuous camera shot rises to show Alcatraz Prison in the distance, revealing this to be Fort Point.
* In [[Richard Lester]]'s 1968 film ''[[Petulia]]'', [[George C. Scott]]'s character plays with his boys, ignoring 'No Trespassing' signs, at Fort Point.
* In the 1969 pilot film for the TV series ''[[Then Came Bronson]]'', Martin Sheen's character jumps to his death from Fort Point.
* The phone booth scene in the 1977 [[Mel Brooks]] comedy ''[[High Anxiety]]'' took place beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point, where the crucial water rescue scene takes place in Vertigo, part of the film's thematic homage to Alfred Hitchcock.
* In the 1985 [[James Bond]] film ''[[A View To a Kill]]'' the fort can be seen in various aerial shots particularly the final scene which takes place above the [[Golden Gate Bridge]].
*The 1999 film ''[[Bicentennial Man (film)|Bicentennial Man]]'' Starring Robin Williams has a scene featuring Fort Point as a bustling market. With the main building being home to NDR Robotics.
* In the 2014 film ''[[Dawn of the Planet of the Apes]]'' the humans use Fort Point's armory to dramatically increase their firepower in the form of armored vehicles and large amounts of munitions.
* The 2019 film ''[[The Last Black Man in San Francisco]]'' filmed throughout San Francisco, with several scenes filmed outside and around the fort.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://productionlist.com/filming-in-april-joe-talbot-to-direct-upcoming-feature-film-the-last-black-man-in-san-francisco/|title=Filming in April: Joe Talbot to Direct Upcoming Feature Film 'The Last Black Man in San Francisco'|date=2018-03-19|website=Production List {{!}} Film & Television Industry Alliance|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-21}}</ref>
*The fort is briefly shown on a television during the opening of the 2019 horror film ''[[Us (2019 film)|Us]]''.

===In games===
* A building based on Fort Point is included in the 2004 video game ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' as a night club called Jizzy's Pleasure Domes in the fictional city San Fierro heavily based on [[San Francisco]].
* Fort Point is also included in the video game ''[[NBA Street]]''
* Fort Point is included in the game ''[[Midtown Madness 2]]''
* Fort Point is one of the surf spots in ''[[Transworld Surf]]''.
* Fort Point is a mission location in ''[[Watch Dogs 2]]''.
* Fort Point (along with the Golden Gate Bridge) has been faithfully recreated in ''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]'' 20th Anniversary World Tour's episode 5, level 6, named Golden Carnage.

===In television===
*In ''[[The Amazing Race 16]]'', teams are here presented with a building's height, year built, and features. They must figure out that it's [[Coit Tower]] and go there to find their next clue.
* In Season 3, Episode 20 of the television series ''[[The West Wing]]'', (titled "[[The Black Vera Wang]]"), Fort Point is the intended target of a foiled terrorist attack by Islamic fundamentalists, who are planning to attack the fort because of its proximity to the [[Golden Gate Bridge]]. The attack is allegedly funded by the fictitious Arab nation of [[Qumar]], a recurring source of terrorism over the course of the series.
*Fort Point was in a made-for-TV movie "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing." The movie was a spin off of the TV show ''[[Emergency!]]''. The movie opens with a tour guide talking about the Fort to a group of school-age kids. A worker falls from the Golden Gate Bridge and is hanging by his safety rope.
*''[[The Streets of San Francisco]]'', a crime drama television series produced by Quinn Martin Productions (1972–77), starring [[Karl Malden]] and [[Michael Douglas]], filmed a shootout scene in Fort Point. Karl Malden killed a "bad guy."
*Featured in an episode of ''[[Emergency!]]'' as a rescue takes place above the fort on the girders below the [[Golden Gate Bridge]].
*''[[Murder, She Wrote ]]'' episode "Birds of a Feather" opening credits are at Fort Point.

===In Music===
* The album cover image  of Editors' album, ''[[The Back Room (album)|The Back Room]]'' is of Fort Point.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicpilgrimages.com/album/index.php?alias=cover__the_back_room.html|title = Cover - the Back Room &#124; Album}}</ref>

===In books===
* The 1980 [[John Varley (author)|John Varley]] science fiction novel ''[[Wizard (novel)|Wizard]]'' begins at Fort Point, which in the book contains an embassy.

===In theater===
* The 2008 We Players, a site-specific theater company, performed a production of [[Macbeth (play)|Macbeth]] by [[William Shakespeare (author)|William Shakespeare]] at Fort Point. This production has been revived in 2013, 2014, and 2025.

==See also==
{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area}}
* [[Fort Point Light, San Francisco|Fort Point Lighthouse]]
* [[49-Mile Scenic Drive]]
* [[63rd Coast Artillery (United States)]]
* [[Alcatraz Island]]
* [[Presidio of San Francisco]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Fort Point National Historic Site}}
*[https://www.nps.gov/fopo/index.htm Fort Point National Historic Site]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070715174024/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/ca/ Early History of the California Coast, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary]
*[http://www.militarymuseum.org/Fort%20Point.html California State Military Museum, Historic California Posts: Fort Point]
* [http://www.militarymuseum.org/CastilloSanJoaquin.html Castillo de San Joaquin]

{{San Francisco Attractions}}
{{Golden Gate National Recreation Area}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}
{{Protected areas of California|NPS}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Forts in California|Point]]
[[Category:Colonial forts in California|Point]]
[[Category:Spanish forts in the United States|Point]]
[[Category:Presidio of San Francisco]]
[[Category:Former installations of the United States Army]]
[[Category:Golden Gate National Recreation Area]]
[[Category:Formerly Used Defense Sites in California]]
[[Category:Museums in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Military and war museums in California]]
[[Category:Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in California]]
[[Category:American Civil War forts|Point]]
[[Category:Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in California|Point]]
[[Category:Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1970]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in San Francisco]]
[[Category:1970 establishments in California]]
[[Category:California Historical Landmarks]]
[[Category:Headlands of San Francisco]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1861]]
[[Category:Military installations closed in the 1940s]]