United States Army Garrison Fort Casey
Located three miles south of Coupeville, Wash., on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound in Island County.
From I-5 north:
Take the Anacortes/Whidbey Island exit (#230), and drive to the Whidbey
Island turnoff. From there, proceed south on Hwy. 20 to Coupeville.
Follow the signs to the Keystone Ferry terminal. The park entrance sign
is between the ferry terminal parking lot and the Camp Casey barracks in
the 25 MPH zone.
From the Mukilteo Ferry terminal at Clinton:
Take Hwy. 525 following signs to the Keystone Ferry terminal. Pass the
Keystone Ferry parking lot, and take first entrance to the left.
From the south:
Follow signs to the Keystone Ferry terminal. Pass ferry parking lot, and take first entrance to the left.
History
In 1858, the U.S. government purchased ten
acres of land costing $400 for the construction of Admiralty Head
Lighthouse. In 1890, the army took over the premises. It named its
garrison "Fort Casey" in honor of Brigadier General Thomas Lincoln
Casey, the last U.S. Army chief of engineers. At that time, Fort Casey,
in union with Fort Worden and Fort Flagler, was said to comprise a
"triangle of fire" guarding the entrance to Puget Sound.
When the fort was constructed, the old lighthouse had to be moved. A
new lighthouse was built on the present site in 1903. Today the
Admiralty Head Lighthouse at Fort Casey serves as a historic landmark
and interpretive center. The park was incorporated into Ebey's Landing
National Historic
in 1980.
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| 10 inch Shell loading port |
Construction on Fort Casey was started in 1897. In 1901, her big guns on disappearing carriages, which could be raised out of their protective emplacements so that the guns were exposed only long enough to fire, became active. However, the fort's ammunition batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed. The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the subsequent development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack. In addition, the development of battleships designed with increasingly accurate weaponry transformed the static strategies of the nineteenth century into the more mobile attack systems of the twentieth century. Most of Fort Casey's guns and mortars were removed and sent to Europe and the Pacific during World War II, where they were mounted on railcars to serve as mobile heavy artillery.
In 1935, the Coast Artillery withdrew the station's battery assignments and placed it on inactive status. As World War II approached, military officials reactivated Fort Casey after making physical improvements to the aging frame-plaster construction.
Two of the fort's 10-inch (25-cm) seacoast artillery guns on their carriages were salvaged in the mid-1960's from their final active duty location at Fort Wint on the U. S. Naval Base Subic Bay.The guns showed visible shrapnel scarring from the effects of the Japanese bombings in the Philippines at the opening of World War II. Two 3-inch (76-mm) rapid-fire guns from Fort Wint are also mounted at Fort Casey.
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| Cannon mounted on Disappearing Carriage |
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| The business end of a 10inch Shell |
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