Fort Wadsworth
One of the oldest continuously garrisoned military sites in the United States, sitting directly beneath the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, free to visit and run by the National Park Service.
- What it costs
- Free. It's a National Park Service site.
- Best in
- Spring, Summer, Fall
- Where
- 210 New York Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10305
- Official site
- nps.gov
It guarded the Narrows for 200 years
Fortified from the 1660s and garrisoned continuously until 1994, which makes it one of the longest continuously operated military installations in the United States.
Its job was always the same: control the Narrows, the mile-wide gap that every ship entering New York Harbor has to pass through. Guns here and at Fort Hamilton across the water could cover the entire channel.
It's now part of Gateway National Recreation Area and run by the National Park Service. Free.
Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins
Battery Weed is the dramatic one — a granite water-battery from the 1840s built right at the shoreline, three tiers of gun casemates in a trapezoid around a parade ground, directly under the bridge.
Fort Tompkins sits on the bluff above it.
Access to the interiors is seasonal and often tour-only, so check with the visitor center before you build a trip around going inside. The exteriors and the grounds are open regardless.
The view
The overlook gives you the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from directly beneath, the harbor, Brooklyn across the water and Manhattan in the distance.
It is the best view of that bridge anywhere, and on a clear evening it is one of the great free vantage points in New York City. The Alice Austen House is a fifteen-minute walk north along the shore.
Getting there
Ferry to St. George, then the S51 or S81 bus — about 25 minutes. Or the Staten Island Railway to Clifton and a fifteen-minute walk.
Around an hour and ten minutes from Lower Manhattan.
There's a visitor center near the entrance with maps and current opening information for the fortifications.
Getting around once you're there
The overlook, the visitor center and the main roads are paved and largely step-free, and the bridge view is reachable without difficulty. **Battery Weed and the older fortifications involve steep ramps, spiral stairs and uneven stone** and are not accessible.