CASTLES ALASKA

Fort Abercrombie State Historic Park, a 182-acre site three miles north of Kodiak, preserves one of Alaska's best-preserved World War II coastal defense installations. Built between 1941 and 1944, the fort features concrete bunkers, gun emplacements, and ammunition magazines constructed to defend against a potential Japanese invasion of Kodiak Island. Surrounded by spruce forests, meadows, and ocean-facing bluffs, the park offers hiking, nature walks, and bird watching alongside the Kodiak Military History Museum, which provides detailed context about the fort's wartime strategic role.

Fort Schwatka, named for Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, stands at 897 feet elevation on Mount Ballyhoo's Ulakta Head—the highest coastal battery ever constructed in the United States. One of four coastal defense posts built in 1942–1943 to protect the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base, the fort was urgently upgraded following the June 1942 attack on Dutch Harbor, completing construction by early 1944. At full development, the fort supported over 100 structures and approximately 250 soldiers. Congress designated the site as the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area in 1996 to preserve the history of this remote Pacific theater installation.