3 - Guardhouse and Sally Port

WAYSIDE LAYOUT: Cream colored, horizontally oriented panel with a dark banner running across the top. The banner reads “Golden Gate National Recreation Area” on the left and the National Park Service logo on the right. The panel has three columns. The first column has text and a graphic illustration. The second column has two images with text below each one. The third column has one image and text below it, including a logo and a QR code.  

FIRST COLUMN: 

TEXT:  Guardhouse and Sally Port: Alcatraz U.S. Army Post (1857 – 1934).  

Long before Alcatraz became the nation’s most notorious penitentiary in 1934, it was Fort Alcatraz, the first and largest U.S. Military fortification on the Pacific Coast.  

Between 1857 and 1934, the island evolved from a defensive fort to a military prison, and eventually to a federal penitentiary. Its role as a prison started in the fort’s Guardhouse – just ahead in the room to the right – beneath the floor, through a trap door.  

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATION: A graphic illustration of the Guardhouse, with a cross section showing the inside of the building’s two floors. Can’t decipher any of the details.  

CAPTION: Eleven Alcatraz soldiers were locked in the lower prison room the first day troops garrisoned the fort. Most of the prisoners detained at Fort Alcatraz were U.S. Military personnel. Notable exceptions, jailed nearby, included southern sympathizers during the Civil War. Hopi Indians who resisted U.S. government policy, and World War I conscientious objectors.  

SECOND COLUMN:  

DESCRIPTION #1: Black and white photograph of cannons on the roof of a building, aimed out over the water.  

CAPTION: From 1859 through 1907, Alcatraz’s military command built state-of-the-art fortifications to defend Californias gold from enemy conquest. Can’t read photo credits. 

DESCRIPTION #2: Colored photograph of the exterior of the Guardhouse from afar. Scaffolding is set up on the outside of the structure as restorations are being made to the building.  

CAPTION: In 2015, the National Park Service rehabilitated the Guardhouse to improve visitor safety and interpretation. Contractors seismically strengthened the building, replaced roofs, removed hazardous materials and repaired concrete and brick features. The NPS removed a 1920’s boathouse addition to expose original Civil War-era features like the defensive dry moat, the lower prison room and the “Alcatraces Island 1867” carved granite lintel.  

THIRD COLUMN:  

DESCRIPTION: Colored photograph of the Sally Port entrance of the Guardhouse. In the foreground is an overhead walkway and 2 men are standing in the distance, talking. The archway of the sally port can be seen just past the men.  

CAPTION: Completed I 1859, the Alcatraz Guardhouse and its Sally Port entrance is the oldest structure on the island. In 1869, the army constructed a two-story brick addition, including the covered walkway, that functioned as a combination library and chapel for the growing prison.  

DESCRIPTION: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy logo 

CAPTION: Park signage made possible with support from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. w w w . Parks conservancy. O r g  

TEXT: For more information go to h t t p : / / w w w . n p s . g o v / a l c a / learn / history culture / index . h t m  

DESCRIPTION: QR Code