WWII Bunkers in Stow MA

I deliberately put this posting under 'Home Improvement' because these Bunkers do need a bit of catching up.





This last photo is the back side of a bunker. It's hard to tell by the photo, but the lump that is the bunker is quite big... Maybe 30' (9+ meters) tall.

These are located in what is now conservation land. The Bunkers are obviously empty now and slowly mouldering away. They were once used for ammunition storage during WWII. Located in Maynard...Stow?, they were deemed far enough from Boston Harbor to be out of reach of German shelling from the water. There must be 50 of these things. The place has a very eerie feel to it.

The land is now the Assabet River Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge.


Some of the wildlife:







Before anyone asks, I have no idea what kind of wildlife these are....?maybe stone age?

 

Excellent Cayuga

Some interesting wildlife

I used a WWII pill box as a workshop for some years...



I built a fireplace in it...



And installed solar powered LED lighting

 

Wow, interesting Zigs. I looked up what a pillbox was. I always thought it was the turret on top of tanks from which the gunners shot. I didn't know it was a defensive structure. Looks like yours was made out of blocks? Or bricks?

 

Interesting posting, Cayu.
We have very many ww2 bunkers scattered around, perhaps more than hunebedden. It is always interesting to go into them. There were various uses for them. Yeah, great posting.
You showed that the place was rockin’.

 

Really interesting @Cayuga Morning. So much history back east.

 

They look very much like that Cayuga. Lots of them still along our coasts and rivers. They were manned by The Home Guard, which was made up of Older and younger men who couldn't join the regular army.

Mine is on a bit of no man's land between the gardens and the farmer's field. I repaired and laid claim to it many years ago and no one challenged me for possession.

It's built out of brick and stone with a cast concrete roof. It was very useful when I didn't have anywhere to live, no one knew I was in there once I shut the door. The smoke from the fire went up thru the wall (no visible chimney) and I put blackout shutters on all the "shoot at the Germans" holes.

It had a Yucca growing on the roof

 

Now he's in Kent aka ''Hellfire corner'' during the war, he has the remains of a gun emplacement. It was one of three anti aircraft pits in the immediate vicinity, to house the guns for shooting down enemy planes. Now it's used for bonfires, and very useful.

All of these wartime pill boxes, gun emplacements and air raid shelters were made of reinforced concrete. Some home made air raid shelters were not quite so sturdy.

The small private school next to us in the village has a kitchen which used to be a shelter and is very strongly constructed.

 

This is a very interesting post CM. I think that we forget about this part of our history, and how it must have been. Very interesting to hear of other countries having war time structures still standing or repurposed. I've never seen such things in my little part of the world.

The closest we've come is an air raid siren that was in the middle of town. It was used post war for community emergencies. Then later to call in volunteer firefighters. It eventually had to be dismantled due to disrepair, but they are considering repairing and returning it to its spot for Forest Fire threats.

Hubby's mother was born in Liverpool and evacuated with many other children to Wales during the War. ( where she learned to speak Welsh Gaelic - Hubby can still speak a little bit). She told stories of bunkers and such. It was interesting to see them in this post.

( I'd want to add a rock star to the party going on there.)

 

When I was a toddler my mum and dad were in the Royal Navy and at one time they were stationed in Scotland. We lived in a nissen hut. These huts were arranged in a horseshoe shape and had an air raid shelter in the middle. I just came across a short video of some nissen huts there in Scotland and thought I'd share.

 

@Cayuga Morning I agree with Mel about this thread. Thank you for your posting

 

Interesting video Tetters! These Nissen huts have windows midway down their length... How did that work with the center being an air raid shelter?

Melody, I agree with you, the US was quite sheltered from direct attacks during WWII. Hearing about Nissen huts, pillboxes, ammo dumps, etc being commonplace in Europe is surprising. But it really shouldn't be.

 

The air raid shelter was a separate building standing on its own while the nissen huts were situated in horseshoe shape around it. If the sirens sounded we all congregated in the central shelter until the all clear.
I remember one couple who lived in another hut I called Auntie Pat and Uncle Bill. They used to sing ''Anything you can do I can do better'' which would ring around the huts and then all the other occupants would join in.
I can remember brown/grey blankets hanging up through our hut with writing on them, and mum told me later they were navy issue and made make do walls to form three rooms.
I'm not sure where these huts were, but think it was somewhere near Loch Fyne near Inveraray. This loch is the longest sea loch in Scotland and is famous for its oysters.... Just like Whitstable in Kent where we came home to after the war was over.

 

I re uploaded an old video of mine to youtube so I could put it on here, easier than describing it



Found a pic of Daughter Willow sitting by another one further along the coast in Dorset

 

so much skill @Zigs!

 

Bunker 599

https://architizer.com/projects/bunker-599/



There are so many historical places. We live on ground that was trod by endless generations.