Fort Heath

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Fort Heath (1895-1965) - An Endicott Period Coastal Fort first established as Grover's Cliff Military Reservation (1895-1899) in 1895 near Winthrop, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Named Fort Heath in G.O. 43, 4 Apr 1900, after William Heath, a delegate from Massachusetts to the Federal Constitutional Convention, who served faithfully and honorably as a Major General in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Abandoned in 1965.

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  Fort Heath Stone Marker
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  Fort Heath Marker in Small Park
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  Fort Heath Site now Occupied by Apartment Buildings

Endicott Period (1890-1910)

Part of the Harbor Defense of Boston, Massachusetts.

Fort Heath 1901 Detachment Barracks, 12 man

Battery Winthrop with three 12" guns was accepted for service at Fort Heath on 4 Oct 1901. Only one permanent building was built at Fort Heath, a 12 man detachment barracks in 1901. The post was garrisoned by detachment from Fort Banks.

Fort Heath Endicott Period Batteries (edit list)

Battery	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery Winthrop	3	12"	Disappearing	1898-1901-1901-1943	$ 202,480
Source: CDSG

Fort Heath Plan 1938

World War I (1917-1918)

The post was expanded during World War I by the addition of two temporary barracks and a temporary mess hall. Two 3" anti-aircraft emplacements were built and armed during the war. In 1922 the original 12 man detachment barracks was converted into NCO quarters for a caretaker. In 1934 a third anti-aircraft gun pad was constructed and in 1935 the three AA positions were designated Anti-Aircraft Battery #4. The 1938 plan of the fort shows all of the World War I temporary buildings removed leaving only the original barracks/caretaker quarters building.

World War II (1941-1945)

The 30 Jun 1940 Quartermaster report for the post shows the post capacity at 1 NCO with only a single habitable building. By the next Quartermaster report on 30 Jun 1941, the post capacity was 10 officers, 1 NCO and 242 enlisted personnel. Three 63 man barracks, one set of officers quarters, a mess hall, firehouse, post exchange and a day room had all been constructed in the intervening year. Additionally, there was tent space for 104 of the enlisted personnel.

The guns and carriages of Battery Winthrop were obsolete before the beginning of the war and they were directed to be salvaged on 28 Dec 1943. A new 90mm AMTB gun battery was built in 1943 with two fixed positions and two mobile positions. The three anti-aircraft guns were approved for relocation to Fort Ruckman on 9 Jan 1942.

Fort Heath World War II Batteries (edit list)

Battery	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery AMTB 945	2 2 2	90mm 90mm 37mm	AMTB Fixed Mobile Mobile	1943-1943-1943-1946	$ ?
Source: CDSG

Cold War

Army Air-Defense Command Post (AADCP) for the Nike missile defenses of Boston (1960-1964). The Air Force 820th AC&W Squadron operated Air Defense Command (ADC) radars at Fort Heath until 1966 when the FAA took over the station. The FAA moved to North Truro AFS, on Cape Cod in the 1990s.

Current Status

All Military sites are destroyed and overbuilt.

Context

Location: Fort Heath, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
Lat: 42.389° Long: -70.969° Bing, Google, OldMapsOnline, USGS, OHM

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Sources:

• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 401
• U.S.Army, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project of Boston, Massachusetts, (HDB-AN-45), 31 Jan 1945, CDSG
• Coast Defense Study Group, CDSG Press, CDSG Digital Library

Links:

• North American Forts - Fort Heath
• Wikipedia - Fort Heath

Related:
2012 New England Plan, Battery AMTB 945, Battery Cost, Battery Winthrop, Cold War, Endicott Period, Fort Banks, Fort Heath Radar Site, Fort Ruckman, Grover's Cliff Military Reservation, NIKE System, Revolutionary War, World War II Coastal Fortifications, Boston Army Air Defense Command Post B-21DC, Boston Army Air-Defense Command Post B-21DC,