Castle Williams

With walls forty feet high and eight feet thick, this red sandstone bastion bristled with over one hundred cannon when it was completed in 1811. Named after its designer, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams, it has also been nicknamed the "Cheesebox" because of its circular shape. Castle Williams, with its twin fort Castle Clinton in the Battery, was built to guard the waterway between Governor's Island and New York City. Together, these forts provided such a formidable defense that the British fleet never attempted to attack New York City during the War of 1812. Today, it is under the jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard.