Fort Interiors

Fort Interiors. . , The fort you are now in has had continuous military occupation since its erection in 1852. the latest occupant, the United States Navy, used the facilities from 1941 and 1997., When the fort was turned over to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, the rooms were found to have been outfitted with modern heating devices, electrical service, lighting, and dropped suspended ceilings. Some rooms had been adapted to laboratory use and had floor mounted concrete slabs, and mezzanines, and they were subdivided., After the rooms were cleared of the debris and modern contrivances, it became evident that a significant number of the original doors, windows, molding, and fireplace mantels remained. Additionally, microscopic analysis of paint layer cross sections reveal original colors., Many of the rooms are now restored to their 1852 appearance. First, the wall and ceiling plaster was restored, and the wood trim stabilized. Then later floor surfaces, attached by thousands of nails, were removed to reveal the original wood floors and, in indiscrete areas, the original finish. Finally, the rooms were painted to represent the original color scheme., The last room on your left has been unaltered to show the appearance as an office laboratory during the 1950s., The “Loading Room,” to your right, had apparently been used as a “Brig” at some earlier time, when steel bars and doors were added. One occupant left his signature at a window – “Billy Baker – 5 days”., The Navy used the chamber in the northeast bastion as a laboratory. It has been modified to represent an “anechoic” chamber, which originally existed in another building.