Fort Miles Battery 519 in earliest days of Cape Henlopen State Park

This photograph was posted recently on the Fort Miles Historical Association's website. It shows Battery 519 - now home to part of the Fort Miles History Museum - when it was still being used for military surveillance purposes. Battery 519 was one of the artillery emplacements constructed in the dunes of the fort during World War II to defend against potential attacks by German ships and submarines in the important Delaware River and Bay shipping lanes.

The site WikiFort.com says this about Battery 519: "Battery 519 was a reinforced concrete, World War II 12-inch coastal gun battery on Fort Miles, Delaware. Battery construction started on 15 Nov 1942, was completed on 31 Aug 1943 and transferred to the Coast Artillery for use 15 Feb 1944 at a cost of $857,000."

Fort Miles was later transferred to the State of Delaware and became Cape Henlopen State Park. This photograph made in 1967 shows the main beach parking area north of Battery 519. How many Volkswagen buses can you spot?