During this period of sheltering in place and with limited park access and on-site interpretation, Park Postcards Podcast is meant to provide audio snapshots or “postcards” that visitors can enjoy from afar. On this second episode of Park Postcards Podcast, Gina Gutierrez shares her memories visiting Fort Point during Living History Day. Ranger James Osborne shares why he loves working at the famous windy fortress.

[Background music fades in: “Edge of the Earth” by Hooksounds.com] RANGER FATIMA COLINDRES: Welcome to a new podcast from Golden Gate National Recreation Area called “Park Postcards.” Each episode will introduce you to what makes each park site unique, through the voice of community members who have visited there, and park rangers who work there, we aim to highlight the work we do to connect our local community groups to the special places in our park, and what these places and experiences mean to them. We hope that through listening to these “audio postcards”, you get excited to visit Golden Gate National Recreation Area. RANGER MARIAJOSE ALCANTARA: Hello everyone and welcome to Park Postcards Podcast! My name is Mariajose Alcantara and I am a park ranger with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s Community Programs and Outreach team. As part of our outreach work, we collaborate with community group leaders from Bay Area community-based organizations who help us bring diverse non-traditional visitors, to their National Parks. On this episode we welcome Gina Gutierrez from San Francisco’s Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church and school community. Gina will be sharing memories from her experience visiting her favorite national park site, Fort Point. SPECIAL GUEST - GINA GUTIERREZ: My name is Gina Gutierrez and I was the community leader for Saint Anthony’s School. I collaborated with the outreach Park Rangers to provide families of Saint Anthony's the opportunity to experience natural, cultural history in the Bay Area, by enjoying our national parks. My most memorable experience was when outreach park ranger Fatima Colindres invited us to go to Fort Point. Visiting Fort Point during a historical recreation event was simply amazing! It was a walking historical tour that made the exhibits even more enjoyable. I felt like I was literally a time traveler. As we walked through the entrance, we were greeted by a couple of Park Rangers. I saw a few union soldiers gathering around, and off to the side I saw a couple of laundry ladies playing a game of toss-the-ring. One of the exhibits featured holes on the wall where the big guns used to be. We went up the stairs to see the other exhibits, including the barracks where we spied some of the union soldiers taking a break. As we continued up the stairs to the roof, we bumped into a union soldier and asked him where he was from. He stayed in character as he explained that he traveled from Pennsylvania and had been doing this for a couple of years. Despite it being cold and windy we managed to go all the way up to the roof. We took this unbelievable photo with the Golden Gate Bridge right behind and above us, and where you can see the tips of the Marin Headlands. As we left, right at the entrance again, we met the drummer boy and he gave us an impromptu performance. Oh, and by the way, it was completely free! I love San Francisco’s Fort Point! RANGER MARIAJOSE: What does it feel like to walk into a historic fortress full of history? We have asked Park Ranger James Osborne to share some of his favorite Fort Point moments and why he enjoys working there. RANGER JAMES OSBORNE: Hello everyone, I’m Ranger James Osborne, and I have spent a lot of time exploring and teaching about Fort Point over the last 35 years or so. This big brick building underneath the even bigger Golden Gate Bridge is a mystery to most people, and it still is to me! I love the solid red brick walls, the graceful arches, and the solid granite spiral stairs. I wonder how it felt to build this fort, as part of a team of hundreds of masons, working for eight years during the Gold Rush in the 1850’s. Or to be a soldier in a company posted here, a hundred and fifty years ago, during the Civil War. I know that it was cold, because it’s always cold at Fort Point! Even in the summer, the wind and the fog from the Pacific Ocean swirls over and into the fort. I always wear my Winter uniform and a thick jacket just to stand here in the middle of the Parade Ground and talk with people who come to see and work in the fort. The wind tries to blow my flat hat right off my head, but I’ve gotten pretty skilled at anticipating and leaning my head into the wind. And of course, I like to take visitors to the quieter, stiller spots to show off cannon, barracks and mess halls, but the wind constantly shifts, and we have to move! A high point of events here at the fort is Living History Day. We love meeting and watching the hundreds of men and a few women as they portray a typical day at the fort during the Civil War. Some even persist after hours to experience a night on a straw mattress in the barracks, trying to sleep on a bunk next to another soldier’s feet! The laundress’s workplace and quarters were a 10 minute walk down the shore, where a picnic area is today, and I bet their lives were a little less windblown, but just as difficult as a soldiers! Up here on the 3rd tier, where the privates were jammed 24 to a room, there was a corner of the fort, behind the mess hall, where the cooks lived. For a short period during the War, a dozen soldiers “of African descent” were in the Companies of soldiers assigned to the fort, but they were designated “assistant undercooks” and all they did was cook. Reports are brief, but when one complained about treatment by an Orderly Sergeant, they all ended up with an unknown punishment and removal from the fort. This incident, and a large Buffalo Soldier exhibit on the 2nd tier, illustrate that black soldiers, while every bit as brave and dedicated as other soldiers, were treated “separately but unequally” for a century, until desegregation during the Korean War. When I'm not sharing stories about the fort and its people….one of my favorite things to do is to climb these spiral stairs all the away to the fourth level- the barbette tier, and exit the penthouse, under the bridge to just climb on top of the fort, on an old gun platform where I can see in all directions and gaze west to the Pacific Ocean. I want everyone to be able to experience Fort Point National Historic Site, so please visit us, online and eventually in person! RANGER MARIAJOSE ALCANTARA: Special thanks to Gina Gutierrez and Ranger James Osborne for sharing their favorite park site of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Fort Point National Historic Site! Thank you for tuning into this second episode of Park Postcards Podcast! I hope you will join us again on future episodes that will feature other park sites around the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Looking ahead to September, we’ll have a special Spanish language Park Postcards Podcast to kick off Hispanic Heritage month. Until then, recreate responsibly in your National Parks! [Background music fades out: “Edge of the Earth” by Hooksounds.com]