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American Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 565
Rockland,
Maine 04841
Phone: 207-594-4174
Fax: 207-596-1091
info@lighthousefoundation.org
The American Lighthouse Foundation is a
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization dedicated to the
preservation of America's historic
lighthouses & lightships and
their heritage.
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Remnants of “Fort Useless”
Adds to the Historical Significance of Long
Point Light
By Bob Trapani, Jr.
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| Situated atop two high dunes on the very
tip of Cape Cod’s spindly finger of soft sand are the eerie remnants of
an all but vanished Civil War defense post. Most of the remains of the
historic site, which stand in the shadow of Long Point Lighthouse, have
been lost to deterioration, but even existing vestiges have been nearly
obscured by |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
The remnants of "Fort Useless" stand in
the shadow of Long Point Lighthouse
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wind-driven sands
and sprawling beach grass.
Long Point, which overlooks the harbor of Provincetown, Massachusetts, is
rich in maritime history that reaches back to the year 1620 when the
Pilgrims first visited its protective waters. Eventually the sandy spit at
Long Point was settled around 1818, and according to lighthouse historian
Jeremy D’Entremont, the remote community reached its peak in the 1850s when
about 200 people called the Cape’s fingertip home.
A decade later with the approach of the Civil War, the settlements at Long
Point had mostly disappeared from the harsh environment of the |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
A close-up view of the dune that served
as the foundation for "Fort Useless"
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exposed and ever-changing Cape as people
moved their homes over to the mainland in Provincetown. D’Entremont
explains why two military batteries were eventually established on the
tip of the Cape, saying, “during the Civil War a Confederate warship was
seen near Provincetown. In |
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anticipation of a
possible attack, two forts were built at Long Point close to the
lighthouse.”
D’Entremont goes on to say, “Local residents called the batteries ‘Fort
Useless’ and ‘Fort Ridiculous.’ Luckily no shots were ever fired in the
vicinity of Long Point, other than Fourth of July salvos.” Concern over a
possible enemy attack on Provincetown Harbor stemmed from the region’s
prosperity as an important port town and from the ease of accessing the
harbor itself. Lighthouse engineer I.W.P. Lewis once called the harbor “one
of the best in the Union – spacious, deep, and accessible at all times
without a pilot.”
The Provincetown community may not have appreciated the batteries when they
sarcastically dubbed them “Fort Useless” and “Fort |
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Ridiculous,”
but nonetheless, the installations were assigned United States Army
personnel under the command of John Rosenthal in 1864, who himself was
no stranger to conflicts. Rosenthal had previously fought missions
against the Indians when he engaged the Comanches in Texas and the
Navahos in New Mexico. Rosenthal served at the Long Point batteries for
12 years and eventually retired in 1885, having moved permanently to
Provincetown.
Though the two
forts never fired a shot in battle, their place in history should be
remembered, but sadly, the batteries have all but vanished into the
past. According to book Looking Back by Clive |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Cape Cod Chapter president
Jim Walker untangles a
tattered flag someone placed
on the cross at "Fort Useless"
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Driver of the
Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum, “there have been suggestions that
the remains of the two forts should be marked in some fashion, but the
National Seashore has stated that there is not enough documentary evidence
left to justify doing this.”
As for the American Lighthouse Foundation and its hardworking Cape Cod
Chapter, our mission is to preserve Long Point Lighthouse – but we also are
appreciative of the light’s surroundings and its rich history, which
includes a moment in time when ‘Fort Useless’ and ‘Fort Ridiculous’ made
their mark on shifting sands of Cape Cod. We will remember.
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
View of "Fort Useless" and the curling
finger of Cape Cod from the lantern
of Long Point Light
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