These bunkers and buildings are nearly identical to the military facilities in Sitka, although they are in better condition than the ones close to Sitka which get visited by partying teens and grafittin vandals. As in Sitka, even the closest bunkers to Seward can be reached only by a boat trip and hike, and the more distant ones are much more inaccessible (I didn't even consider trying for those, while they'd probably be more interesting they'd require more time than the single weekend I had.
A rented kayak brought me out to the old army dock at Caines Head.
The main bunker of battery 293 is at the top of the bluff overlooking the
ocean access to Seward (a vital rail/sea link during WWII).
A plaque on the hill overlooking the dock.
The trail through the forest passes by a few ruined quonset huts and
ammunition bunkers, finally reaching the rear doorway to the bunker. A
weatherproofed blueprint was placed nearby by the forest service or whoever
it is that maintains the trails. (They only maintain a few, by wandering
off into the forest one can find a lot more buildings and structures that
have been forgotten by the general public).
This is a generic Central Traverse Magazine bunker, a common type built
all over the US coastline. Two 6 inch cannons (6" was the diameter of the
projectiles) were mounted one on either side of the bunker in shielded
ring mounts. The reinforced bunker between them protected the crew (at
least the ones not manning the guns) and the ammunition stores from attack.
The rangefinding and fire control pillbox atop the bunker. There were
several of these on islands around the area, they would each take range
and bearing to targets and transmit the data to the central fire control
personnel, who would calculate the direction of the gun and how much powder
to use to hit their target.
A view from the command bunker, the eastern view across the channel
is the only one that doesn't have trees blocking it these days.
A hidden bunker elsewhere in the forest that doesn't see many visitors,
due to it's being forgotten by the forest service trail maintenance teams.
The former garrison town on the south beach has decayed into almost
nothing. The most intersting things I found were an original fire hydrant
and a few porcelain light fixtures and lumps of coal. There were old telephone
poles all through the woods, but the locals had climbed every one of them
and collected the valuable glass insulators.
If I were in charge there would have been some sort of really awesome
bunker built into this outcropping.
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