Cultural Landscape Report, Fort Wadsworth, Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service
PaleoWest, LLC, Helen Juergens, M.A., M.Arch., RPA, Architectural Historian, Chris Baker, Ph.D., Historian, Ben DiBiase, M.A., Historian, Steve Burns, B.S., Historic Landscape Architect. 2023. Cultural Landscape Report, Fort Wadsworth, Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service. U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Fort Wadsworth is part of the Staten Island Unit that makes up the Gateway National Recreation Area. Established in 1972, the Gateway National Recreation Area includes 27,000 acres in New York and New Jersey, and the 117-acre Fort Wadsworth area contributes to the nearly 3,000 acres of National Park Service land on Staten Island. In continuous use from the late eighteenth century to the late twentieth century as a military installation, the area encompassing Fort Wadsworth has been strategically significant, protecting the entrance into New York harbor. The site evolved over time as the coastal batteries constructed from the mid-nineteenth century into the early twentieth century were quickly made obsolete by more advanced military technology such as airplanes, long range guns on Dreadnought battleships, and later, intercontinental missiles. This report examines the existing conditions and historical land use of Fort Wadsworth from the earliest known historical records of human habitation through the modern era of National Park Service management and use. This report provides a detailed contextual analysis of the evolving military, and often concurrent public recreational, uses of the site and the changing landscape as Staten Island and the greater New York City metropolitan area grew rapidly over the course of the last two centuries. This report will serve as a critical management tool for National Park Service resource managers as large areas of Fort Wadsworth’s historic resources and infrastructure, including abandoned gun batteries, are gradually covered by natural vegetation as well as invasive vines and plants.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- PaleoWest, LLC; Helen Juergens, M.A., M.Arch., RPA, Architectural Historian; Chris Baker, Ph.D., Historian; Ben DiBiase, M.A., Historian; Steve Burns, B.S., Historic Landscape Architect
- Date of Issue
- 2023
- Publisher
- U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- GATE , NER
- Keywords
- CLR, Coastal Fortifications, Cultural Landscape Report, Endicott Era, Fort Wadsworth, Gateway National Recreation Area, Military Construction, New York, Staten Island, Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, World War I, World War II