Last updated: March 9, 2023
Place
Ballast Point
Quick Facts
Location:
San Diego, CA
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
US Navy
Ballast Point is a small peninsula with a large history. Located on the larger Point Loma Peninsula, not far from Cabrillo National Monument, it is deeply intertwined with our park’s history. It has been part of the Kumeyaay Tribe’s homeland since time immemorial and was the site of a seasonal—and possibly permanent—village where Kumeyaay people gathered marine resources such as fish and shellfish from the waters and intertidal zones of San Diego Bay.
On September 28, 1542, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo entered San Diego's harbor, which he named San Miguel, and likely landed at Ballast Point. It was the first visit of a Euro-American to present-day California. Cabrillo recognized San Diego's maritime resources, declaring it to be "a closed and very good port."
In 1769, colonists from Mexico (then part of the Spanish empire) began sending settlers to present-day San Diego. As explorers from the British Empire began to visit San Diego, these colonists recognized the importance of coastal defenses to their sovereignty and built Fort Guijarros on Ballast Point in 1795. This fort held 10 cannons, one of which can be seen by visitors at Old Town San Diego State Historical Park . On two occasions, American smugglers who traded illegally in San Diego were confronted by cannon fire from this fort, but when the US military invaded in 1846 the fort had been abandoned for 10 years and US Marines took its cannons to attack Mexican forces in Old Town.
In 1834, Richard Henry Dana, a sailor turned memoirist, visited Ballast Point, which was then home to a hide tanning industry that produced leather. He claimed that, “For landing and taking off hides, San Diego is decidedly the best place in California. The harbour is small and land-locked, there is no surf; the vessels lie within a cable's length of the beach, and the beach itself is smooth, hard sand, without rocks or stones. For these reasons, it is used by all the vessels in the trade, as a depot.” In the next decade, an interracial whaling industry would also emerge in this area, with whalers of diverse backgrounds hunting and processing the Gray whales who once came to San Diego Harbor to mate and give birth.
After San Diego became part of the United States, the fort became a ruin.Circumstantial evidence exists suggesting that some of the fort’s bricks were used to build the foundation of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse. The US Army began adding new coastal defenses to Ballast Point in the 1870s, part of the Fort Rosecrans defense complex that also included much of the park. In 1890, a lighthouse was constructed on Ballast Point, but it was decommissioned and demolished in 1957. Today, Ballast Point retains its maritime heritage. It is home to a Coast Guard Base and is the home port for nuclear submarines. While it is not open to general visitors, one can gain a sense of this area from the lookout at Cabrillo National Monument.
On September 28, 1542, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo entered San Diego's harbor, which he named San Miguel, and likely landed at Ballast Point. It was the first visit of a Euro-American to present-day California. Cabrillo recognized San Diego's maritime resources, declaring it to be "a closed and very good port."
In 1769, colonists from Mexico (then part of the Spanish empire) began sending settlers to present-day San Diego. As explorers from the British Empire began to visit San Diego, these colonists recognized the importance of coastal defenses to their sovereignty and built Fort Guijarros on Ballast Point in 1795. This fort held 10 cannons, one of which can be seen by visitors at Old Town San Diego State Historical Park . On two occasions, American smugglers who traded illegally in San Diego were confronted by cannon fire from this fort, but when the US military invaded in 1846 the fort had been abandoned for 10 years and US Marines took its cannons to attack Mexican forces in Old Town.
In 1834, Richard Henry Dana, a sailor turned memoirist, visited Ballast Point, which was then home to a hide tanning industry that produced leather. He claimed that, “For landing and taking off hides, San Diego is decidedly the best place in California. The harbour is small and land-locked, there is no surf; the vessels lie within a cable's length of the beach, and the beach itself is smooth, hard sand, without rocks or stones. For these reasons, it is used by all the vessels in the trade, as a depot.” In the next decade, an interracial whaling industry would also emerge in this area, with whalers of diverse backgrounds hunting and processing the Gray whales who once came to San Diego Harbor to mate and give birth.
After San Diego became part of the United States, the fort became a ruin.Circumstantial evidence exists suggesting that some of the fort’s bricks were used to build the foundation of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse. The US Army began adding new coastal defenses to Ballast Point in the 1870s, part of the Fort Rosecrans defense complex that also included much of the park. In 1890, a lighthouse was constructed on Ballast Point, but it was decommissioned and demolished in 1957. Today, Ballast Point retains its maritime heritage. It is home to a Coast Guard Base and is the home port for nuclear submarines. While it is not open to general visitors, one can gain a sense of this area from the lookout at Cabrillo National Monument.