Fort Point, known historically as the Castillo de San Joaquín (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "Saint

Joachim Joachim was, according to Sacred tradition, the husband of Saint Anne, the father of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), and the maternal grandfather of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Gospel of James, part of ...

's Castle") is a masonry seacoast fortification located on the southern side of the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

at the entrance to

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

. It is also the geographic name of the

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

upon which the fort and the southern approach of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...

were constructed. The fort was completed just before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships. The fort is now protected as Fort Point National Historic Site, a United States National Historic Site administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

as a unit of the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the Unite ...

. It is now popular as a tourist viewing point of the Golden Gate Bridge directly on top of it.

History

In 1769 Spain occupied the San Francisco area and by 1776 had established the area's first European settlement, with a mission and a

presidio A presidio (''jail, fortification'') was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire mainly between the 16th and 18th centuries in areas under their control or influence. The term is derived from the Latin word ''praesidium'' meaning ''pr ...

. To protect against encroachment by the British and Russians, Spain selected ''Punta del Cantil Blanco'', a promontory with a high white cliff (''cantil blanco'') located at the narrowest part of the bay's entrance, to construct a fortification. The ''Castillo de San Joaquín'' was constructed in 1794, subordinate to the nearby Presidio de San Francisco. It was an

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

structure housing nine to thirteen cannons. Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, gaining control of the region and the fort, but in 1835 the

Mexican army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

moved to Sonoma leaving the castillo's adobe walls to crumble in the wind and rain. On July 1, 1846, after the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

broke out between Mexico and the United States, U.S. forces, including Captain John Charles Fremont,

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

and a band of 10 followers, captured and occupied the empty castillo and spiked (disabled) the cannons. Sometime during the Spanish and Mexican eras, the ''Punta del Cantil Blanco'' came to be known as the "Punta del Castillo" ("Castle Point"), which was carried over into the era of U.S. sovereignty, in rough translation, as "Fort Point".

U.S. era

Following the United States' victory in 1848,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

was annexed by the U.S. and became a state in 1850. The

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

of 1849 had caused rapid settlement of the area, which was recognized as commercially and strategically valuable to the United States. Military officials soon recommended a series of fortifications to secure San Francisco Bay. Coastal defenses were built at

Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island () is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate, Golden Gate Strait. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a Alcatraz Isla ...

Fort Mason Fort Mason, in San Francisco, California is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay. Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense site a ...

, and Fort Point. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on Fort Point in 1853. Plans specified that the lowest tier of artillery be as close as possible to water level so cannonballs could ricochet across the water's surface to hit enemy ships at the water-line. Workers blasted the cliff down to above sea level. The structure featured seven-foot-thick walls and multi-tiered casemated construction typical of Third System forts. It was sited to defend the maximum amount of harbor area. While there were more than 30 such forts on the East Coast, Fort Point was the only one on the West Coast. In 1854 Inspector General Joseph K. Mansfield declared "this point as the key to the whole Pacific Coast...and it should receive untiring exertions". A crew of 200, many unemployed miners, labored for eight years on the fort. In 1861, with war looming, the army mounted the fort's first cannon. Colonel

Albert Sidney Johnston General officer, General Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) was an American military officer who served as a general officer in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States ...

, commander of the Department of the Pacific, prepared Bay Area defenses and ordered in the first troops to the fort. Kentucky-born Johnston then resigned his commission to join the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

; he was killed at the

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater of the ...

in 1862.

Fort Point and the Civil War

Throughout the Civil War, artillerymen at Fort Point stood guard for an enemy that never came. The

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

raider CSS ''Shenandoah'' planned to attack San Francisco, but on the way to the harbor the captain learned that the war was over; it was August 1865, months after General Lee surrendered. Severe damage to similar forts on the Atlantic Coast during the war –

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a historical Coastal defense and fortification#Sea forts, sea fort located near Charleston, South Carolina. Constructed on an artificial island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor in 1829, the fort was built in response to the W ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and Fort Pulaski in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

– challenged the effectiveness of masonry walls against rifled artillery. Troops soon moved out of Fort Point, and it was never again continuously occupied by the army. The fort was nonetheless important enough to receive protection from the elements. In 1869 a granite seawall was completed. The following year, some of the fort's cannon were moved to Battery East on the bluffs nearby, where they were more protected. In 1882 Fort Point was officially named Fort

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841 to 1861, and was a veteran of the War of 1812, American Indian Wars, Mexica ...

after the hero of the war against Mexico. in 1886, it reverted back to its original Fort Point name with the establishment of a new fort within the Presidio of San Francisco that was then named Fort Winfield Scott.

Into a new century

In 1892, the army began constructing the new Endicott System concrete fortifications armed with steel, breech-loading rifled guns. Within eight years, all 103 of the smooth-bore cannons at Fort Point had been dismounted and sold for scrap. The fort, moderately damaged in the 1906 earthquake, where the fort was used as a temporary refugee camp by the U.S. Army, was used over the next four decades for

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, training, and storage, however, in 1913, part of the interior wall was removed by the army in their short-lived attempt to make the fort the army detention barracks using soldier and prisoner labor. The detention barracks were later built on Alcatraz Island and was used until becoming a federal prison. Soldiers from the 6th U.S. Coast Artillery were stationed there during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to guard minefields and the anti-submarine net that spanned the Golden Gate. New quarters and administrative buildings were constructed on the higher ground, behind the new Endicott batteries, moving Fort Scott to this location. File:Fort Point 1934.jpg, Fort Point in 1934, Golden Gate Bridge under construction File:Fort Point under bridge.jpg, View from under bridge. File:A general view of the northwest wall, in relation to the Fort Point arch of the golden gate bridge. View to southwest. - Fort Point, U.S. Highway 101, San Francisco, San HABS CAL,38-SANFRA,4-54.tif, A general view of the northwest wall, in relation to the Fort Point arch of the golden gate bridge. File:A view toward the southwest corner of the interior, showing the octagonal wooden structure atop the southwest circular staircase. - Fort Point, U.S. Highway 101, San Francisco, HABS CAL,38-SANFRA,4-60.tif, A view toward the southwest corner of the interior, showing the octagonal wooden structure atop the southwest circular staircase.

Preserving Fort Point

In 1926 the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

proposed preserving the fort for its outstanding military architecture. Funds were unavailable, and the ideas languished. Plans for the

in the 1930s called for the fort's removal, but Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss redesigned the bridge to save "While the old fort has no military value now," Strauss said, "it remains nevertheless a fine example of the mason's art.... It should be preserved and restored as a national monument." The fort is situated directly below the southern approach to the bridge, underneath an arch that supports the roadway. Preservation efforts were revived after

. On October 16, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed a bill creating Fort Point National File:Fortpointcanons02-012006.JPG, Middle level of Fort Point File:Fortpoint02-01-2006.JPG, Cannons on display at Fort Point File:Fort Point, September 2019-8795.jpg, Interior of Fort Point File:The interior of Fort Point.jpg, The courtyard of the fort Fort Point Stairs

Landmark status

Fort Point is designated as

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

#82, officially listed under the site's original name, Castillo De San Joaquín.

Recreation

The rocky point north of the fort produces waves, in the winter months, that are popular with surfers.

Media use

Fort Point is a popular filming location. It is also mentioned in other media.

In film

*In '' Dark Passage'' (1947), a fight scene with

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

on the bluff above the fort ends with his opponent falling to his death in what is now the fort's parking lot. * In the 1950 film '' The Man Who Cheated Himself'', there is a five-minute search scene near the end of the film that was filmed at Fort Point and shows many shots of the fort. * In

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's 1958 thriller ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

'',

Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and a s ...

's character jumps here into the San Francisco Bay in a suicide attempt. * In '' Point Blank'', the 1967 John Boorman noir movie starring

Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and prematurely white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as th ...

and

Angie Dickinson Angie Dickinson (born Angeline Brown; September 30, 1931) is an American retired actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many Anthology series#Television, anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough rol ...

, it is shown as the location for the "Alcatraz Drop" at the closed

Alcatraz Prison United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or the Rock, was a Maximum security prison, maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off the coast of San Francisc ...

. However, in the final scene a continuous camera shot rises to show Alcatraz Prison in the distance, revealing this to be Fort Point. * In

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...

's 1968 film '' Petulia'', George C. Scott's character plays with his boys, ignoring 'No Trespassing' signs, at Fort Point. * In the 1969 pilot film for the TV series '' Then Came Bronson'', Martin Sheen's character jumps to his death from Fort Point. * The phone booth scene in the 1977

Mel Brooks Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...

comedy '' High Anxiety'' took place beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point, where the crucial water rescue scene takes place in Vertigo, part of the film's thematic homage to Alfred Hitchcock. * In the 1985

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film ''

A View To a Kill ''A View to a Kill'' is a 1985 spy film, the fourteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from ...

'' the fort can be seen in various aerial shots particularly the final scene which takes place above the

. *The 1999 film '' Bicentennial Man'' Starring Robin Williams has a scene featuring Fort Point as a bustling market. With the main building being home to NDR Robotics. * In the 2014 film '' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'' the humans use Fort Point's armory to dramatically increase their firepower in the form of armored vehicles and large amounts of munitions. * The 2019 film '' The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' filmed throughout San Francisco, with several scenes filmed outside and around the fort. *The fort is briefly shown on a television during the opening of the 2019 horror film '' Us''.

In games

* A building based on Fort Point is included in the 2004 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' as a night club called Jizzy's Pleasure Domes in the fictional city San Fierro heavily based on

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. * Fort Point is also included in the video game '' NBA Street'' * Fort Point is included in the game '' Midtown Madness 2'' * Fort Point is one of the surf spots in '' Transworld Surf''. * Fort Point is a mission location in '' Watch Dogs 2''. * Fort Point (along with the Golden Gate Bridge) has been faithfully recreated in ''

Duke Nukem 3D ''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a 1996 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem (video game), Duke Nukem'' and ''Duke Nukem II'', published ...

'' 20th Anniversary World Tour's episode 5, level 6, named Golden Carnage.

In television

*In '' The Amazing Race 16'', teams are here presented with a building's height, year built, and features. They must figure out that it's

Coit Tower Coit Tower (also known as Coit Memorial Tower) is a tower in the Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, overlooking the city and San Francisco Bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, San Franc ...

and go there to find their next clue. * In Season 3, Episode 20 of the television series ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'', (titled " The Black Vera Wang"), Fort Point is the intended target of a foiled terrorist attack by Islamic fundamentalists, who are planning to attack the fort because of its proximity to the

. The attack is allegedly funded by the fictitious Arab nation of Qumar, a recurring source of terrorism over the course of the series. *Fort Point was in a made-for-TV movie "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing." The movie was a spin off of the TV show ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

''. The movie opens with a tour guide talking about the Fort to a group of school-age kids. A worker falls from the Golden Gate Bridge and is hanging by his safety rope. *''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is an American television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its ow ...

'', a crime drama television series produced by Quinn Martin Productions (1972–77), starring

Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American stage, movie and television actor who first achieved acclaim in the original Broadway productions of Arthur Miller's '' All My Sons'' and Tennessee Will ...

and

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...

, filmed a shootout scene in Fort Point. Karl Malden killed a "bad guy." *Featured in an episode of ''

'' as a rescue takes place above the fort on the girders below the

. *'' Murder, She Wrote '' episode "Birds of a Feather" opening credits are at Fort Point.

In Music

* The album cover image of Editors' album, '' The Back Room'' is of Fort Point.

In books

* The 1980 John Varley science fiction novel '' Wizard'' begins at Fort Point, which in the book contains an embassy.

In theater

* The 2008 We Players, a site-specific theater company, performed a production of

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

at Fort Point. This production has been revived in 2013, 2014, and 2025.

References

External links

Fort Point National Historic SiteEarly History of the California Coast, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
* ttp://www.militarymuseum.org/CastilloSanJoaquin.html Castillo de San Joaquin {{authority control Point Point Point Presidio of San Francisco Former installations of the United States Army Golden Gate National Recreation Area Formerly Used Defense Sites in California Museums in San Francisco Military and war museums in California Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area National Historic Sites in California Point Point Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco Protected areas established in 1970 Tourist attractions in San Francisco 1970 establishments in California California Historical Landmarks Headlands of San Francisco