Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex, Battery 208, Cliff Road, Humarock Peninsula Hanscom Air Force Base, Scituate

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-B. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Cliff Road, Humarock Peninsula Hanscom Air Force Base Scituate Plymouth County Massachusetts Battery 208 is located within the Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex at latitude longitude which is the approximate center of the structure and was determined using Google Earth on April 25, There is no restriction on the release of this data to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-B. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Battery 208 within the Fourth Cliff military complex was constructed based on standardized 200-series designs developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Minimal alterations have been made to the building, which is in a state of good repair. While the gun emplacements and supporting artillery were removed by the power plant and all associated equipment remain in place within the structure, making it a rare existing and intact example of a structure of its type. Description: Battery which is referred to as a battery magazine in original drawings, and as Structure at Site 1-C in documents, drawings, and on site plans, 1 was planned and constructed at Fourth Cliff in anticipation of World War II.

The battery is approximately 350 south of the extant Fire Control Observation Tower, 550 north of the extant Fire Control Observation Station, and 27 east of the chain-link fence that delineates the recreation annex from the beach community to the south. While constructed in a T- shape of reinforced concrete, the exterior appearance is one of a rectangular earthen mound, 170 in length and 130 -0 wide with sloping sides and a flat top that is 22 -0 above ground level and covered with native plants such as sumac and pine which serve to camouflage the structure within the landscape.

An observation post constructed to resemble a wooden cottage was originally sited on top of the battery but has since been removed, leaving a 1 War Department, Army Corps of Engineers, Harbor Defenses 200 Series Battery. Roof Plan and Sections. For Battery Nos. 206 & 208 only. (United States Engineer Office, Boston), April The label Battery 208 is used in documentation of the site to refer to the Fourth Cliff military complex, as well as to the mounded structure used to house armaments and artillery. Drawings introduce magazine as an alternate term for the structure. FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 2) rectangular concrete foundation measuring 26 -0 x 14 -0 .

A narrow horizontal opening, approximately 1 -0 above ground level and shielded by a concrete awning, spans the length of the foundation s east elevation and wraps partially along the north and south elevations. This opening is sealed with plywood. Access into the battery at this level was by a trapdoor that has been sealed. A concrete, rectangular ventilation chimney is northwest of the trapdoor location. Recessed openings on the south, west, and north elevations provide access to the battery interior. Original steel plate doors were fitted into each of the openings, reached by ramped abutments; metal doors with and shingled surrounds replace the earlier doors. A concrete vent housing penetrates the berm along the west elevation to provide combustion exhaust for the diesel generator.

Rectangular concrete alcoves built to the east and west of the north and south entrances were used for service storage of shells and powder that supported two firing platforms, 200 -0 apart from center, at the north and south ends of the battery. The battery is set on tamped ground with reinforced concrete footings and is constructed of blast-resistant reinforced concrete that is 7 -0 at the thickest point. The exterior walls are constructed of reinforced concrete that is 3 -0 thick. The main overhead slab is 6 -0 thick, covered with a layer of fill and topsoil. A concrete burster slab, intended to absorb the impact of incoming artillery, is laid between the front corridor and the exterior wall of the mound.

A similar slab is embedded in the fill between the roof and the top surface of the mound. The interior configuration of Battery 208 consists of a front corridor that is 150 -0 in length oriented along the north-south axis, parallel to the coastline. A shorter central corridor intersects the north-south corridor at the center, extending 100 -0 along the east-west axis, resulting in a T shape. A series twelve storage rooms for the powder, artillery, and equipment needed for gun operation are accessed from the front corridor. Six rooms are north of the central corridor and six rooms are to the south. Each room is constructed of concrete. Openings are 7 -3 high and 4 -0 wide; they hold paired, gas-proof, structural steel doors that are thick and reinforced with battens and L-straps.

The doors are painted black and remain operable. Each room was wired for electricity and utilitarian light fixtures remain in place. Original conduit, attachments, and deteriorated cloth-wrapped wire, in a severe state of deterioration, spans the full length of the front and central corridors. All military equipment has been removed. The spaces hold canoes, kayaks, grills, chairs, and other items utilized for the function of the site as a vacation resort. Original drawings suggest that surfaces were painted; however, no intact paint remains on any surface in the front corridor rooms. Rooms accessed from the central corridor held all operational facilities within Battery The reinforced concrete corridor terminates at the west entrance to the battery.

Corridor walls are unpainted but all spaces to the north and south of the corridor are painted with a tan, maroon, and beige FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 3) color scheme. The south side of the corridor included the plotting complex, which consisted of the plotting room, the radio and switchboard room, a three-person latrine, a chemical service room, and a chemical warfare airlock. Doors within this section of the battery are two-panel, metal units manufactured by Metal Clad Door Inc. of Waltham, Massachusetts. 2 All equipment has been removed, although some overhead lights, wiring, and bathroom fixtures remain in place.

The north side of the corridor holds the 200-series, Model 4 style battery power plant, which is in a room measuring 35 -0 x 25 -0 and sunken 2 -0 lower than all other portions of the battery. The space consists of a power room, muffler gallery, and water cooler room. Equipment in the space is intact and includes three Worthington diesel engines connected to 440-volt Westinghouse generators. Additional equipment includes control switchboards, fuel tanks, compressed air starters and tanks, recirculating water coolers, generator exciters, and an electrical switchboard reflecting the mission critical supply of reliable power to the battery. 3 While the north platform has been excavated and paved with asphalt, the south emplacement remains in place.

All levelling plates, hardware, drains, and measurement markings of which the emplacement was comprised have been removed. The area is currently sheltered by a wooden circular canopy to accommodate recreational activity. History: The construction of Battery 208 began on September 8, was complete by October 1, and transferred from the Corps of Engineers to the Army on November 3, at a cost of 4 The battery contained spaces for artillery storage and a plotting room to which positioning coordinates were transmitted by telephone from the Fire Control Observation Tower at the north base end and the Fire Control Station at the south end, for the calculation of target locations. From the plotting room, target coordinates were transmitted to the north and south gun emplacements.

Each emplacement consisted of a recessed circular platform fitted with a 6 Model T2 Watervliet gun mounted on Model carriages with a trunnion 60 -0 above sea level. 5 Each gun rotated 365 degrees and was operable by an electric-hydraulic power system or by a handwheel. An azimuth circle set in the platform for accurate firing guided the 15-mile range guns. Electricity provided by Plymouth Gas and Electric powered vapor-proof lights, a three-ton capacity air conditioning unit manufactured by the York 2 War Department, Army Corps of Engineers, Harbor Defenses 200 Series Battery, Door Details. For Batteries & 209 only. (United States Engineer Office, Boston), 3 Matthew Kierstead and Nancy Tinker, Fourth Cliff Battery National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of the Interior, National Park Service, p. 6. 4 U.S. Army Engineer Division, New England Corps of Engineers. Document No. page 1. 5 Paul Grigorieff. Marshfield, Coast Defense, http://www.coastdefense.com/ Marshfield.htm. Accessed April FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 4) Corporation, a dehumidifying unit, and a heating system that included oil, circulating hot water, and electric units. Running water was provided by the Scituate Water Department. 6 The one-story cottage on top of the battery was three bays wide and wood framed.

Entrance through a wood-paneled door on the south elevation led to a trapdoor and into the observation room below, where two concrete pedestals supported depression position finders with axis set at above mean low water level Like other buildings on the base, the cottage was designed to enhance the appearance of the site as a vacation community from air and sea and was considered inconspicuous at any range. The building was constructed for and was transferred to the Army on December 4, 7 The power plant within Battery 208 operated as an independent electrical source between until throughout the time that the base was in use for research by the U.S. Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory, and spotlights were housed within the observation post on top of the battery magazine.

8 Battery 208 remains intact and is unchanged from the time of construction. The observation post was removed in when the base was repurposed as a recreation annex by the Air Force. 9 The wooden pagoda at the original site of Gun 1 was constructed between and 10 6 U.S. Army Engineer Division, New England Corps of Engineers. Document No. p. 1. 7 U.S. Army Engineer Division, New England Corps of Engineers. Document No. in Report of Completed Works Seacoast Fortifications, Harbor Defenses of Boston, Massachusetts. Corrected to On site at Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex of Hanscom Air Force Base, page 1. 8 Kierstead and Tinker, p. 12. 9 Kierstead and Tinker, p. 13. 10 National Environmental Title Research (NETR), historicaerials.net.

Accessed May FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 5)

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-B. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

A. Original Architectural Drawings Architectural plans and drawings for the site dating from to the present are held in the Engineering Division Offices, Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, MA. Drawings specific to Battery 208 are listed below. War Department, Army Corps of Engineers, 200 Series Battery. For Batteries Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston. April through July -- 200 Series Battery. Door Details. For Batteries & 209 only. Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston. April -- 200 Series Battery. Firing Platform. For Batteries Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston. April -- 200 Series Battery. Roof Sections. For Batt. 208 only. Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston.

April -- 200 Series Battery. Roof Plan and Sections. For Battery Nos. 206 & 208 only. Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston. April -- Battery Wall Elevations and Sections. Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston. August --"Battery No. 208 in 24 Sheets. Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office, Boston. August B. Bibliography 1. Primary and Unpublished Sources Kierstead, Matthew and Nancy Tinker, Fourth Cliff Battery, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Massachusetts Historical Commission SCI.A: Fourth Cliff Recreation Area, Massachusetts Historic Inventory Form. Completed by the Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc.

Boston: --- SCI.902: Fourth Cliff Battery Massachusetts Historic Inventory Form. Completed by the Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. Boston: U.S. Army Engineer Division, New England Corps of Engineers. Document in Report of Completed Works Seacoast Fortifications, Harbor Defenses of Boston, FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 6) Massachusetts. Corrected to On site at Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex of Hanscom Air Force Base. 2. Secondary and Published Sources Butler, Gerald W. Military Annals of Nahant, Massachusetts. Nahant, MA: Nahant Historical Society, Grigorieff, Paul. A Brief History of Coastal Defense, Coast Defense, Accessed April 3. Maps and Aerial Images Butler, Gerald W.

Plan of Fourth Cliff, Scituate, June 6, National Environmental Title Research (NETR). Accessed April

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-B. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This Project was completed by AECOM on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as a component of the Fence to Fence Environmental Compliance Services contract to support the USAF at Joint Base McGuire- Dix-Lakehurst, NJ; Hanscom AFB, MA; New Boston NH; and Rome Labs, NY. Photography by Rob Tucher took place March 29 through April 4, fieldwork was conducted by AECOM at the same time. The initial report was presented for review to the USACE, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) Installation Support Services (ISS), and Hanscom Air Force Base personnel in May FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 7) Figure 1. Rendering of the 200-series battery layout based on design drawings. 11 11 Gerald W. Butler, Military Annals of Nahant, Massachusetts.

Nahant MA: Historical Society of Nahant, p. FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, BATTERY 208 HABS No. MA-1357-B (Page 8) Figure 2. Standard layout of 200-series battery interior. 12 12 Butler, p.