Maintenance Building

Maintenance HQ

NPS Jamie Niles

Cockspur Island, located at the mouth of the Savannah River, sits at a very strategic location. It guards entry to the Port of Savannah, one of the busiest in North America, since the days of colonial rule. For this reason, it has served as a military outpost for over two centuries. Fort George, named for King George II was the first fort constructed on the island in 1761, destroyed by Patriots in 1776. It was followed by Fort Greene, named for Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene. Fort Greene served mainly as a quarantine station until destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. Fort Pulaski, which took eighteen years to complete, is the largest, most elaborate fort ever built on the island. It made history during the American Civil War when Union rifled artillery breached its heavy walls after only 30 hours, fired from over a mile away on nearby Tybee Island. Battery Hambright, of the Endicott system, was built on the north side of the island in 1896 but never armed. In 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, the Department of Interior closed Fort Pulaski to the general public and turned Cockspur Island over to the Navy. They established section base #20 on the island to guard the Port of Savannah, mainly against attacks from German U-boats.

Maintenance Building Exterior

NPS Jamie Niles

Throughout 1942, the U.S. Navy spent approximately $2 million improving the military infrastructure of Cockspur Island. They built a barracks complex for about 400 men, mess facilities, an Officer’s club, high explosive magazines, tennis courts, and an equipment storage building. The only World War II Navy structures that still exist on the island are the high explosive magazines and the equipment building. The latter currently serves as the Fort Pulaski National Monument Facilities Maintenance building. It houses the largest department in our park as well as all of their tools and equipment. It takes a lot of behind the scenes work to maintain a 5,000 acre+ park with several historic structures. This is where they make it happen.

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Bibliography: Fort Pulaski Historic Structure Report (2004), Fort Pulaski Administrative History(2003), Fort Pulaski Foundation Document (2016)