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Thursday 11am - 4pm Friday 11am - 4pm Saturday 11am - 4pm Sunday 11am - 4pm

Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum at Fort Worden, Port Townsend, WA (2026)

Army Coast Artillery Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound, circa 1900-1953. MUSEUM IS OPEN 11 to 4 Wednesday-Sunday WHO WE ARE -- WHAT WE DO
The Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum is an independent, non-profit, 501-C-3 tax-deductible organization. CAM was founded in 1976 by veterans of the 248th Regiment Coast Artillery Corps (HD) (WNG) and the 14th Regiment Coast Artillery Corps (HD). Our mission is t

o protect, preserve and interpret the history of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery, and the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound, headquartered at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. Our first museum opened in 1979. Thanks to long-term support from Washington State Parks, and since 2014 with the Fort Worden Public Development Authority, our dedicated volunteers and hosts are able to schedule our Museum and Gift Shop open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 365 days a year. Special tours can be arranged. The CAM Museum in Building 201 interprets, with exhibits and artifacts, the military and post-army history and use of Fort Worden. CAM ‘s collections include an extensive photograph file, military, Civil Defense material and copies of various construction plans, documents and engineering drawings. CAM members and volunteers at Fort Worden organize and host tours of Artillery Hill and the Harbor Entrance Control Post, and conduct other interpretive activities. CAM membership is also active at Fort Casey and Fort Ebey state parks on Whidbey Island, and Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island. CAM volunteer efforts include w**d and brush control, public access improvements, rust control and painting, and structural preservation within the state parks. Ongoing projects and programs are intended to support and enhance the visitor experience at Fort Worden, and other host facilities.

06/06/2026

FORT FLAGLER HISTORY: Parade Ground view, circa 1910

Presenting a colorized photo of U.S. Army Coast Artillery troops on the parade ground, circa 1910, at Fort Flagler, Marrowstone Island in Jefferson County, Washington. All the buildings pictured here were removed by 1936.
Fort Flagler was activated on July 27, 1899, the first of the Coast Artillery Corps’ “triangle of fire” forts at Admiralty Inlet that anchored the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound. It was followed by Fort Casey (1901) and Fort Worden (1902). Flagler was also the first to lose its active duty status (1918). By 1921, Forts Flagler, Casey, Whitman and Ward were placed on caretaker status.
Fort Flagler boomed again in-1941 when “temporary” buildings were erected to handle troops mobilized for federal service from National Guard units and fresh recruits from the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.
Flagler’s last hurrah came when it was used by Army amphibious units from 1947-1952. The post was officially closed on June 30, 1953.

05/24/2026

FORT WORDEN HISTORY: ‘When do we eat?’ behind Battery Kinzie, 1913

“When do we eat?” is the message applied to this photo from 1913 of the Fifth Company, U.S. Army Coast Artillery Reserve Corps, Washington National Guard, who are ready to be served a meal behind Battery Kinzie on the beach at Fort Worden. At the time, Kinzie º– located along the beach at Point Wilson, the Admiralty Inlet gateway to Puget Sound, was the newest Fort Worden battery. When served their food, the soldiers ate in the tent seen at right. Washington National Guard units from Tacoma, Snohomish, Seattle, Aberdeen and Olympia typically did two weeks of active-duty training at Fort Worden.
--Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum Collection

05/20/2026

COAST ARTILLERY MUSEUM PREPS FOR FINAL SUMMER AT FORT WORDEN

The Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum’s 50th year at Fort Worden State Park is its last; the independent, non-profit museum is closing Sept. 7, 2026.

The museum in Fort Worden’s Building 201 is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday through this Labor Day weekend. Admission is by donation.

Fort Worden was an active U.S. Army post from 1902 to 1953, serving most of that time as headquarters for the Harbor Defense of Puget Sound. Coast Artillery Museum (CAM) roots date to 1976, when veterans of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps’ 248th Regiment turned their 18th annual reunion into a mission to “preserve and interpret” why Fort Worden, in particular, existed and operated. That year, a one-room museum was opened in Building 200. The much more expansive museum in Building 201 opened in 1985.

Earlier this year, CAM’s board of directors made the decision to close. Building 201 is the last of the Fort Worden barracks that has not been significantly updated since the state’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center for juveniles operated from 1958-1970. The building is old but the museum’s larger issue has been the “aging out” of members and volunteers.

Museum visitation has always been strong. The CAM hosted an average of 12,000 visitors a year before the pandemic. The museum was closed for most of 2020, and reopened in 2021 with updated displays. Visitation reached 9,500 in 2025, including instructional tours for school children.

CAM’s legacy at Fort Worden is more than a museum. From 2004-2016, in particular, CAM volunteers undertook projects that enhanced historic interpretation and public use. For example, volunteers cleaned, painted and performed repairs on gun and mortar batteries, including the Harbor Entrance Command Post which had never previously been open to the public.

With permission from Washington State Parks, small trees and brush were removed to create Artillery Hill “viewsheds” to allow historic interpretation of the gun batteries, many of which had their water view obscured by trees and foliage not maintained since 1944. CAM organized numerous Artillery Hill work parties that involved scouts, school groups and athletic teams, active-duty military and community volunteers. Enhancements from stairways to signage to viewsheds are long-term benefits. Now, it’s up to other volunteer organizations to carry that public service forward, as CAM members prepare for the end of an era.

04/23/2026

FORT WORDEN HISTORY: Two wharves, circa 1910

This colorized photo, circa 1910, shows when two wharves were in operation at U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps Fort Worden at Port Townsend, WA. The Engineer Wharf (left) and Quartermaster Wharf served different purposes. Both of these wharves pictured were removed about 1944 when the wharf that exists today was built.

The photo shows soldiers returning by steamship from maneuvers, based on the men seen carrying diagonal bedrolls from the Army’s 1908 field gear issue. This field gear was replaced in 1910 with backpacks later used by Americans in the First World War. The bedroll shown here consists of a “pup tent” outer layer, and an inner layer of two blankets and usually some shirts. Each man wore a bag on his left hip for mess gear and rations, plus a canteen and medical pouch. Rifle ammunition belts were of the 1903 issue with eagle-style button snaps. In 1917 the Army went to the “lift the dot” style pouch snaps used into modern times.

Moored alongside the Quartermaster Wharf are two target rafts, each 60-feet in length and 40-feet in height. The rigging to hold the target cloth is pictured, but not the cloth itself. The goal of Coast Artillery gunnery practice was to hit near or in-line with the target rafts, not to hit (and destroy) the target raft itself.

04/05/2026

FORT FLAGLER HISTORY: Tug of war team, 1906

Recreation activities were important for U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps soldiers, particularly those at isolated posts such as Fort Flagler, activated in 1899, ahead of Fort Casey and Fort Worden in the Harbor Defense of Puget Sound. The 94th Coast Artillery was organized April 5, 1901. it was one of the early units assigned to Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island across Port Townsend Bay from Fort Worden and across Admiralty Inlet from Fort Casey.
This proud C Company tug of war team undoubtedly competed against rival squads from other Puget Sound military installations. A glass plate negative of this 1906 photo was located when Greg Hagge was managing the museum at Fort Lewis, WA; he made the copy which we reproduce here.
-- Photo from Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum Collection

Address

Port Townsend, WA
98368

Opening Hours

Thursday	11am - 4pm
Friday	11am - 4pm
Saturday	11am - 4pm
Sunday	11am - 4pm

Telephone

+13603850373

Website

http://coastartillery.com/

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Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum at Fort Worden