Fort Totten Park is about 60 acres of northeast Queens waterfront — earthwork batteries, brick barracks, a lawn, a pool, and the Commanding Officer’s House, which everyone calls the Castle. The Bayside Historical Society runs programming out of the Castle, and almost all of it is free.
- Nature Puppet Show — Sat Sept 12, 1:00–2:00 p.m., Fort Totten Park Visitors Center. Urban Park Rangers, best for kids. Free.
- Second Sunday Castle Tours — Sun Sept 13, 1:00–3:00 p.m., Bayside Historical Society. Free guided look inside the Castle.
- Oktoberfest at The Castle — Sun Sept 20, 1:00–4:00 p.m., Bayside Historical Society. Festival with food. Free.
- Fort Totten Fall Festival — Sat Oct 3, 1:00–4:00 p.m., Fort Totten Front Gate. Best for kids. Free.
- Open House New York: Fort Totten and the Battery — Sat Oct 17 and Sun Oct 18, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. (grounds) and 1:00–3:00 p.m. (battery). Free.
- Totten Trot 5K — Sun Oct 25, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., Bayside Historical Society. The one event on the fall calendar not listed as free.
The Second Sunday tours are the recurring one — every second Sunday of the month, 1 to 3 p.m., no ticket. Open House New York weekend in mid-October is the broader one: the fort grounds and the battery both open with ranger tours, which is the only time most of that brickwork is publicly walkable.
Fort Totten is a 20-minute drive from most of Queens and effectively invisible from Manhattan, which is exactly why the calendar is free and uncrowded. Bring a car or take the Q13/Q16 to the fort gate — the park contact is the Northeast Queens Administrators Office at (718) 352-4793 if you want to confirm anything before you go out there.