The Legend of Alcatraz

Alcatraz started as a fortress defending the harbor. Today it is one of the top tourist attractions. Alcatraz’s recorded history begins as a fortress. It’s location in the middle of the Bay made it ideal to defend the harbor and keep the enemy warships away. And, Alcatraz is actually unique in the sense that there are other castle-like brick forts from the 19th century that were built on islands – it’s kind of an obvious good place – it’s hard to land in and attack. But, those islands were just sort of the place on which you put the big pile of bricks and the cannons.