Fourth Cliff Military Reservation

Fourth Cliff Military Reservation was a World War II coastal defense site located near Scituate, Massachusetts, USA. It is now a recreation area for Hanscom Air Force Base.

Fourth Cliff Military Reservation
Part of Harbor Defenses of Boston
Scituate, Massachusetts
6-inch gun at Fort Columbia State Park, Washington state, similar to Battery 208.
Fourth Cliff Military Reservation is located in Massachusetts
Fourth Cliff Military Reservation
Fourth Cliff Military Reservation
Location in Massachusetts
Coordinates42°09′35.34″N 70°42′20.05″W
TypeCoastal Defense
Site information
OwnerHanscom AFB, Massachusetts
Controlled byUnited States Air Force
Site history
Built1942
Built byUnited States Army
In use1942-Present
Battles/warsWorld War II
Garrison information
Current
commander		Hanscom Air Force Base[1]
GarrisonScituate, Massachusetts

History

The Fourth Cliff Military Reservation was built on private land during World War II, and was organizationally part of the Harbor Defenses of Boston. It consisted of an early radar, fire control towers, and artillery batteries and today, a combination of three one- and two-bedroom recreational lodging facilities. One battery of two 6-inch guns was built here, on shielded barbette carriages with a magazine and fire control bunker between them. It was known as Battery 208 and was completed in November 1944. A 16-inch gun battery, Battery 106, was planned for the Flowers Hill area but was never built. The guns were scrapped and the fort abandoned as a coast defense installation in 1948.[2][3][4]

The site today

It is a 56-acre (230,000 m2) seaside recreation area located in Humarock (near Scituate) on Massachusetts' South Shore. Fourth Cliff is in a superb location, sitting high on a cliff at the end of a peninsula, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the scenic North River on the other. The site today consists of various buildings, a bunker, two fire control towers, a recreation hall, four 3-bedroom cottages, eleven 2-bedroom chalets, two townhouses, four efficiency units, eleven RV sites, a pavilion and spaces for tent camping. It is now operated by Hanscom Air Force Base as a military recreation area. The site is open only to service members, their families, guests, and Department of Defense civilians.

See also

References
  1. "Home". hanscom.af.mil.
  2. Fourth Cliff Mil Res at FortWiki.com
  3. "Southeastern Massachusetts - Fourth Cliff". American Forts Network. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  4. Berhow, p. 206
  • Berhow, Mark A., Ed. (2015). American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Third Edition. McLean, Virginia: CDSG Press. ISBN 978-0-9748167-3-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Lewis, Emanuel Raymond (1979). Seacoast Fortifications of the United States. Annapolis: Leeward Publications. ISBN 978-0-929521-11-4.
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