Fourth Cliff Military Reservation

42°09′35.34″N 70°42′20.05″W / 42.1598167°N 70.7055694°W / 42.1598167; -70.7055694TypeCoastal DefenseSite informationOwnerHanscom AFB, MassachusettsControlled byUnited States Air ForceSite historyBuilt1942Built byUnited States ArmyIn use1942-PresentBattles/warsWorld War IIGarrison informationCurrent
commanderHanscom Air Force Base^[1]GarrisonScituate, Massachusetts

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.

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

• Seacoast defense in the United States
• United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
• List of military installations in Massachusetts

References

• Berhow, Mark A., ed. (2015). American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide (Third ed.). McLean, Virginia: CDSG Press. ISBN 978-0-9748167-3-9.
• Lewis, Emanuel Raymond (1979). Seacoast Fortifications of the United States. Annapolis: Leeward Publications. ISBN 978-0-929521-11-4.

External links

• Hanscom AFB official site
• Hanscom AFB support services site
• List of all US coastal forts and batteries at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
• FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts