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ABOUT FACTS NET
Places
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Fort Hancock New Jersey Continued
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Fort Hancock contained the first disappearing guns in the U.S. They were large cannon that would fold down behind a concrete wall after they were fired. Although crumbling the fortifications where the guns were mounted still stand.
There were other gun batteries at the fort, my favorite is Battery Potter. The building resembles a castle and it fact was used to make several movies of which at least one was a horror movie. Thanks to Tom Hoffman I was able to get inside and take some very interesting pictures. There are many tunnels inside the building which was used to store munitions for the guns above. Machines existed inside the building to move the heavy shells up to the guns through port ways in the ceiling. Tracks were everywhere to transport shells and stairs led up to the guns. The pictures speak for themselves except row 3 picture 3 from the left and the last picture. The third row picture is actually a picture of the port in the ceiling to raise the munitions through. The last picture is of an auxiliary building at Battery Potter.
Fort Hancock also contains the first concrete motor battery in the U.S. Here are the pictures of the motor battery.
The buildings at the fort were most built in the late 1800s and reflect the beautiful architecture of the Victorian era.
This building from 1878 once served as an bachelor officers quarters and an officers' club.
The next area at the fort is the civilian motor pool and machine shops. The buildings were originally built to work on cannons and ordnance since the fort was the only artillery testing area in the United States. Originally the buildings were wood but a fire destroyed them and brick "fireproof" buildings were erected in their place.
The Museum which was formerly the guardhouse. Housing on the base was actually quite good. If you were a non commissioned officer you got a housing unit that held two families like the one below:
NCO Housing Officers got even better quarters. They and their families got a beautiful victorian house all for their own.
Officers Row
To give you an idea of how nice the houses were, here are pictures of the inside of a typical officer's house, look at the enlargements to get a better idea:
The bedrooms were upstairs, this is only the first floor. And last but not least, no visit to the fort would be complete without looking at the Rodman Gun. This monster was brought to the fort in 1869.
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