Fort Hamilton Army Base Overlook

Fort Hamilton Army Base Overlook provides views of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and New York Harbor from one of the oldest continuously active military installations in the United States, operational since 1831.

Fort Hamilton has defended the entrance to New York Harbor for nearly two centuries, evolving from a coastal artillery post through the Civil War, both World Wars, and the Cold War to its current role as a military community and administrative facility.

Robert E. Lee served as a young Army engineer at Fort Hamilton in the 1840s, overseeing improvements to the fortifications before the Civil War that would pit him against the nation he had served. Stonewall Jackson was baptized at the fort's chapel.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which begins its span from directly above Fort Hamilton, was built over the objections of the military, which argued that the bridge would compromise the fort's defensive capabilities. The bridge opened in 1964.

Fort Hamilton Army Base Overlook connects visitors to nearly 200 years of American military history at the entrance to New York Harbor, where the bridge that Robert E. Lee once helped defend now carries the starting line of the New York City Marathon.