CDSG REPRESENTATIVE SITE VISIT REPORT
Fort Name: Fort DuPont / Harbor Defenses of the Delaware
Current Site Name: Governor Bacon Health Center/Fort DuPont State Park/Delaware National Guard
Date of Visit: August 16 2007
Site Use: Medical Center / Recreation / DE National Guard / State Surplus
Is the Site open to the Public?: Limited Access
Dates and Hours of Operation: Year Round Open: 8am Close: Sunset
What type of programs are offered at the Site?:
Living History: None
Tours: None
Museum Shop: None
Restoration Projects: PX, Brick NCO Duplexes, Quartermaster Warehouse
What is the overall condition of the Site: Fair
What is the condition of the Individual Elements?:
Batteries:
Battery Rodney/Best: Fair No Public Access except one mortar pit, Overgrown with vegetation and trees, floods several times per year
Battery Read/Gibson: Fair No Public Access. Freeze-thaw cycle has caused the terracotta ceiling to crack and patches have fallen off, ironwork is deteriorating
Battery Ritchie: Destroyed Nothing remains
Battery Elder: Good Limited Public Access
1870s Magazines: Fair Overgrown with vegetation
Buildings:
Many of the support buildings remain. What remains of Officers Row is in Good/Fair condition
Headquarters is in good condition
Brick barracks are in good condition
Theater is in good condition
Brick NCO Duplexes are being restored
One of the Quartermaster Warehouses has been restored and is being used by the Fort Delaware Society
Mine Storage Buildings are in good/fair condition
PX is in fair condition but is being restored
Chapel is in fair condition
One POW Barracks remains and is in fair condition
Guard House is in fair condition
Stables are in fair condition
Bakery is in fair condition
Many of the remaining warehouses are in fair / poor condition
Other Elements:
Fire Control Tower (1) is in poor condition
What is the protective status of the Site?:
National Park: No
National Register: Yes
State Historic Site: Yes
Current Site Owner: State of Delaware
Current Site Supervisor: Superintendent Becky Webb (Fort DuPont State Park section)
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 170, Delaware City, DE 19706-0170
Phone: 302.834.7941
Fax:
Email: Sharon.Menashes@state.de.us
Other Contacts for the Site: The Fort Delaware Society
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 553
Delaware City, DE 19706
Phone: 302.834.1630 or 888.936.7844
Fax:
Email: FtDSociety@del.net
Is there anyone at the site that would submit material for the CDSG Journal?: Possibly the Fort Delaware Society
Any Special Situations at the Site: (Damage, Imminent Destruction, Etc.) The Roller Rink has been torn down / fallen down in the past year
If individual batteries, base-end stations, buildings, etc. are in some way significant, please indicate:
One of the Wooden barracks that housed German POWs during WWII remains.
The mortar batteries were used by Civil Defense during the cold war and then were later used by the State of Delaware as an emergency response center.
