Fort Taber District

Clark's Point in New Bedford holds a coastal defense district made up of Fort Taber and five gun batteries. The fort is a seven-sided, three-story structure of hand-cut granite with a five-sided interior court, seaward gun embrasures of the Totten class, and a single landward sally-port entrance. Construction began in May 1861 after the federal government bought the land in 1858. Major Richard Delafield drew the initial designs, assisted by Captain Robert E. Lee, and Colonel Henry Martyn Roberts supervised the work. The Great Stone Fleet assembled under its guns in 1861. After years of vacancy the fort served as Marine Park from 1892, then was regarrisoned in 1898, when five reinforced-concrete batteries were added through 1901. It was declared obsolete in 1947 and later served as a training center and Job Corps site. At the time of listing, New Bedford was acquiring the property for a military museum and park.