Cabrillo Coastal Defense System: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Cabrillo National Monument

Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program; Bae, Sang; Gjesfjeld, Cortney Cain; Sawyer, Shannon

The Cabrillo Coastal Defense System Cultural Landscape Inventory consists of several historic military defense features including eight base-end stations, three searchlight shelters, two generator stations for searchlights, an army radio station, an AMTB gun emplacement, a gun mount and two associated bunker complexes, and an old military road within the boundaries of Cabrillo National Monument. The historic defense system extends outside the boundaries of the monument, but only the NPS-owned portion of the system is inventoried in this report. The monument is located within the city limits of San Diego, California, on the southern end of the six-mile Point Loma peninsula. The Cabrillo Coast Defense System is regionally significant under criteria A and C with a period of significance spanning 1913 through 1950 to reflect the advancements of harbor defenses of the west coast of the United States in the late nineteenth and the first half of twentieth centuries. The system is also exemplary of the Modern Era coastal fortification system, as most of the coastal defense systems from this period are non-extant on the west coast and in southern California in particular. The system within the Cabrillo National Monument boundary is one of very few sites that retains integrity. This significance is conveyed through multiple cultural landscape characteristics, including natural systems and features, spatial organization, circulation, views and vistas, buildings and structures, and archaeological sites, which, evaluated together, contribute to the character of the cultural landscape. The unit retains its historic integrity and effectively represents the advancements in American harbor defenses through the first half of the twentieth century. Situated within the national monument and protected from development, the defense structures retain their general environmental setting and historic views and vistas as established during the period of significance. The circulation routes constructed and utilized during the period of significance have changed little in alignment, though the eastern road has been converted to a trail, and the buildings and structures and archaeological sites associated with the harbor defense system remain relatively undisturbed in their historic spatial layout. The cultural landscape is in fair condition.

Cabrillo Coastal Defense System: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Cabrillo National Monument

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