Sullivans Island Magazine, Summer 2016

he name sounds quite

secretive – Battery 520. And very

classified. In fact, it was; there was

even a barbed wire fence surrounding

the area.

Known also as Marshall Reserva-

tion, the huge swath of land running

from Station 28½ all the way to Breach Inlet was off limits

to civilians during the Second

World War. Jasper Boulevard

(known then as Railroad Avenue) was as close as anyone

could get as they rode the trolley or automobile on their

way to bourgeoning Isle of Palms. U.S. soldiers returning

from Europe were processed at the Oversees Discharge and

Replacement Depot on the site, but local lore suggests a

POW camp for Italian soldiers also was there.

During the war, 1,500 people lived at the installa-

tion, including some civilian employees. Sixteen barracks

provided housing for personnel as well as for the transient

soldiers who were quartered there. Four administrative

buildings were also part of the compound. Today, about

all that remains of Marshall Reservation are some rather

Marshall reservation

QuiteSecretive ...

andVeryClassified

Photos by Mary Coy.

by Mary Coy

a government-

built structure

that still stands

today provided

steam heat for

the Marshall

reservation

buildings.