Fort Cronkhite and Rodeo Lagoon

Fort Cronkhite and Rodeo Lagoon

Once the site of a coastal artillery post, Fort Cronkhite in its modern incarnation is used to educate visitors about its past. Its facilities are also used to house a number of park partners including NatureBridge, the Marin Headlands Nursery, and the Marine Mammal Center.

Fort Cronkite during WWII

When the US joined the Allied powers in 1941, a real concern grew in the minds of citizens and the armed forces that the California coast was subject to attack by the Japanese. Soldiers were posted up and down the coast, digging foxholes along ridges where they hid while using spotlights and listening stations to monitor the skies for enemy aircraft.

The buildings at Fort Cronkhite are typical of thousands of wartime barracks, mess halls and supply buildings built around WWII. They retain that aesthetic today, though their facilities have been repurposed for modern use.

Fort Cronkhite originally housed hundreds of Coast Artillery soldiers assigned to the army's Harbor Defenses of San Francisco. The soldiers manned gun batteries, radar sites and other fortifications on the high ridges overlooking the fort, waiting for an enemy that fortunately never came.