Fort Terry - Facilities and Weaponry

Facilities and Weaponry

As an artillery post Fort Terry, was heavily armed. By 1914 the fort had 11 gun batteries and the ability to extensively mine the area against submarines. During World War I the post had anti-aircraft artillery installed. In addition the post was home to an advanced fire regulation system as well as a position finding system. The grounds also had a functional 36" gauge railroad built in 1914. The Porter locomotive was used to haul munitions from bunkers to the artillery batteries.

Fort Terry's Chemical Corps installation covered three acres and included many of the amenities traditionally associated with U.S. military installations. Included on the grounds were various administration buildings, laboratories, a dock, a motor pool, a commissary, a hospital, a fire station, staff housing and animal housing.

When the Chemical Corps took control of Fort Terry, in 1952, it required the remodeling of 18 original buildings on post. The Army had been developing plans for the animal disease facility at Fort Terry since 1951. A laboratory was planned for the circa 1911 Building 257, originally known as Combined Torpedo Storehouse and Cable Tanks building. The lab was not completed by the time the Chemical Corps transferred the fort to the USDA but it and the rest of the remodeled buildings were eventually incorporated into the civilian facility.

A 2008 DHS report recommended that the remnants of Fort Terry, its buildings and batteries, be opened to the public and preserved. The Town of Southold, New York formed a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) which noted that many of the island's structures, including those at Fort Terry, could qualify for listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.