Located in Coupeville, Washington, Fort Casey Inn, circa 1909, are former Non-Commissioned Officers’ Quarters. Built for the active defensive installation of Fort Casey, which neighbors the Inn.

The inn is located adjacent to Fort Casey State Park with its bunkers, lighthouse, 10-inch disappearing guns, public beaches and trails. Spectacular views of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Olympic Mountains, Cascade Mountains, and the San Juan Islands are a short walking distance. Most units overlook Crockett Lake, which is a natural bird sanctuary and Admiralty Bay on Puget Sound.

At the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. Army opened a newly built fort that was to guard the entrance to Puget Sound. Located on Whidbey Island, the fort was named “Fort Casey” in honor of Brigadier General Thomas Lincoln Casey, the last U.S. Army chief of engineers. At one time, Fort Casey was the fourth largest military post in Washington, housing 10 officers and 428 enlisted men.

The Army used the fortification until World War II. Fort Casey was decommissioned in the 1950s, Seattle Pacific University became the property’s owner — updating and renovating the buildings. Today, SPU continues to welcome school groups, churches, nonprofit organizations, and outdoor education classes to this remarkable historical site.

Fort Casey State Park is located on Whidbey Island in Washington state. Admiralty Inlet was considered so strategic to the defense of Puget Sound in the 1890s that three forts, Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, and Fort Worden at Port Townsend, were built at the entrance with huge guns creating a “Triangle of Fire.” Fort Casey is now a 467 acres (1.89 km2) marine camping park. The Admiralty Head Lighthouse is located in the state park.

Designed as part of the massive modernization program of U.S., construction on Fort Casey began in 1897. The guns became active in 1901.  They are unique due to their disappearing carriages. which could be raised out of their protective emplacements so that the guns were exposed only long enough to fire, became active.

However, the fort’s batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed. The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the subsequent development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack.

In addition, the development of battleships designed with increasingly accurate weaponry transformed the static strategies of the nineteenth century into the more mobile attack systems of the twentieth century.

Most of Fort Casey’s guns and mortars were removed and sent to Europe and the Pacific during World War I, where they were mounted on rail cars to serve as mobile heavy artillery.