111The Commanding Officer’s Quarters at 200 Battery Way near the water at Fort Worden State Park is featuring a display about wars the United States fought against Spain for its new rotating exhibit.
“Many of the soldiers who came here when the fort was first opened were veterans of that war,” said Steve Bailey, museum manager.
“So this topic is a good choice for the new room.”
The museum opened for the season Saturday and will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through September.
Fort Worden was commissioned in 1902 as an Army Coast Artillery Corps fort.
As headquarters for the Puget Sound Harbor Defenses, it held a strategically important position in the triangle of defensive forts constructed to protect the entrance to Puget Sound and to safeguard the naval shipyard at Bremerton.
The Commanding Officer’s Quarters was completed in 1904 to house the highest ranking officer and his family in luxury and to entertain visiting dignitaries.
After housing 28 commanding officers, whose portraits are on the walls, the building served several functions, such as a juvenile center.
The building was converted into a museum in 1983, with two floors filled with authentic furniture and fixtures.
Discovered letters
While looking for an idea for the new exhibit space, Bailey discovered a cache of letters from career Army officer Frederick Berger, who was then stationed in the Philippines, to his mother.
Berger lived in Port Townsend for many years.
The letters became the impetus for the exhibit, and were retyped and put into a display case along with reproductions of the original letters.
Pictures, weapons and other memorabilia were incorporated into the exhibit.
Bailey then developed charts about the Spanish-American War from 1898 to 1899, the Philippine-American War from 1899 to 1901 and the Moro Rebellion 1898 to 1913.
Those wars represented the first time that the United States had been involved in a military conflict outside of its own boundaries, Bailey said.
The stated purpose of the United States’ involvement in the wars was to liberate Cuba, the Philippines and Mora from Spain, but this wasn’t the whole truth, Bailey said.
“The United States wanted to control these resources, and residents were surprised to be liberated from Spain to find they were under the United States’ control,” he said. “This wasn’t our country’s finest hour,” Bailey added.
Bailey, who calls himself “a history buff,” supervises a staff of 12 volunteers.
The rooms contain authentic period furniture, although not the actual items that were in the house at the time.
It features working indoor plumbing, a luxury at the time, and a spacious kitchen.
The formal rooms are spit-shined, while some of the others looked lived in, with personal items set on tables and chairs.
Admission to the museum, which is operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society, is $4 for adults and $1 for children ages 3 to 12 years old. Admission is free for historical society members. Special group tours can be arranged by phoning 360-385-1003.
A passport is available at a reduced rate for visitors to see this museum, the Rothschild House museum and the Jefferson County Historical Museum.
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
