Battery Langdon at the Fort Pickens Area of Gulf Islands National Seashore

See the Military Forts and Batteries web page for an interactive location map.

Battery Langdon at Gulf Islands National Seashore is located directly across the road from Langdon Beach, making it the easternmost battery in the Fort Pickens unit of the park. There is a roadside pullout in front of the battery, or you can park at the beach and walk. Both the battery and the beach are named after Loomis L. Langdon, one of the early commanders at Fort Pickens.

Battery Langdon was completed in 1923 and was originally armed with two 12″ guns that sat out in the open with no protection. In its present state, sealed and covered with earth to the point that it appears to have been embedded in a cliff wall, it is hard to imagine where the original guns would have been. Between 1942 and 1943, concrete casemates 10 feet thick and overhead masonry walls 17 feet thick were added to protect the soldiers who manned the battery, and then the entire structure was covered in soil to camouflage it. Guns sat in what appear to be entranceways, today marked by the giant black doors below the large projecting turrets. (Battery Langdon consists of two identical sections. What you see in the above photo is just one half of the battery.)

While Battery Langdon is sealed shut, it is possible to take a short-but-steep trail to the top where you can get a good look at the beach and surrounding areas. From the front, there is a path on the left side of the right battery (easiest way up) and on the right side of the left battery. There is also a path at the left rear, but it is extremely steep and overgrown. All paths are sand, so it’s like walking up a giant sand dune. I was huffing and puffing by the time I got to the top. Once there, you will find a network of worn paths crisscrossing the area. If you retreat down the trail on the backside, you will come to a rear entrance, but this is sealed just like the entrances at the front of the battery. Allow twenty minutes for a visit to Battery Langdon if you plan to climb to the top.