Fort Columbia, Battery Ord
Yesterday we braved a chilly wind and a bit of an up-and-down hike to participate in an optional Community Historian field trip to Fort Columbia. Our guide was Donella Lucero, retired State Parks Interpreter at the Fort and the fearless leader of our Community Historian classes. Awesome!
This was a tour of the grounds (not of the museum) and, except for going up there for picnics in the 1950s and a bit of ‘parking and sparking’ about the same period of time, I’d never really seen the area in an informational sort of way. Not only did Donella talk about the history of the buildings – those that are still there and those that are no more – she told to us about the role of the Fort during the years it was active from 1896 to 1947.
Officer’s Row, Fort Columbia
During the two World Wars, Fort Columbia worked in concert with Fort Stevens and Fort Canby to provide the Harbor Defenses for the Columbia River. At one time, 700 men were stationed there in barracks originally constructed for only 100. The Fort was self-contained – even had electricity as early as 1906, thirty years before we had electricity in Oysterville!
The highlight was a tour of the old, once secret, underground casemate which served as the nerve center for the mines laid near Sand Island in the Columbia River. The cables containing the wires which would have set off the mines, long ago cut and totally disabled, are still visible by looking down the manhole in the cable gallery.
Casemate Hallway, Fort Columbia
I was amazed at how extensive the casemate was – a regular warren of hallways and rooms – and I was glad I’m not prone to claustrophobia and that Donella had instructed us to bring flashlights. Even so, it was a little creepy and is kept locked up for good reason. And how did that one shoe get left on the wrong side of a locked gate? I have to say I breathed a sigh of relief when we were back in the open air!
Tomorrow, Nyel and I are giving another optional field trip – a tour of Oysterville and of our house – for class members. It will be pretty subdued in comparison to yesterday’s tour. Here on the bay we’ve never had reason to be quite so dramatic as along the river – thank goodness!
I love going to Ft. Columbia! My father took me in the ’50s and ’60s and we’d poke around all the concrete gun emplacements etc. The officer’s quarters and the barracks were my favorite and I am so glad that my grandson got to go (though doubtless he no longer remembers) before the recession and closure. I would think that it’s time to get these open again! When 9-11 happened my mother was convinced that Ft. Columbia would have to be activated again so as to keep the Al Qaida Navy(non-existent) out of the mouth of the river. She tends towards the dramatic herself.