SE Atlantic Coast Tour d'Forts

So it turns out there are a lot of forts up and down the Southern Atlantic Coast. They are from different eras, Civil War, Revolutionary War, or even earlier. On a recent trip from Charleston to St. Augustine, these are the forts we stopped at, although amazingly we did not see them all.

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park Fort Sumter is only available to visit via guided tour $32 adult; Fort Moultrie Wed-Sun 9-4/5 $10 adult

Fort Sumter is on a tiny island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor and can only be visited via a boat tour. The island was built around the War of 1812, prior to the civil war in order to have a fort at the entrance to the harbor to protect the city. Originally the fort was three stories high, prior to bombardment by the Union army during the Civil War. Today it’s only barely one story high and there really isn’t much left. The island is tiny with water practically lapping at the walls of the fort.

The tours go from either Patriot’s Point or downtown Charleston and boats take about 45 minutes to get there and then once on the island, there’s about an hour to wander around. There is a small museum and gift shop on the island, but there isn’t really much left of the fort. As forts go it wasn’t physically as interesting as other forts in the region, but historically it’s very important since it’s where the Civil War started.

Fort Moultrie is also right at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, but it is on Sullivan’s Island and it was built much earlier than Fort Sumter, for the Revolutionary War and used periodically for about 200 years. Originally built from palmetto logs, currently it’s an attractive (as forts go) brick fort with lots of underground tunnels to wander. The fort was decommissioned and transferred to the NPS in 1960.

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park

A newer national park formed in 2017 by President Obama, this was my main reason for stopping in Beaufort. The visitor’s center is in downtown Beaufort in the old firehouse and is small, but while we were there, a ranger gave a short talk and provided us with a lot of information on the history of the park and what to see and do.

Beaufort was an important site during Reconstruction, because the Union Army occupied the city early in the Civil War and many slaves escaped there and were emancipated. The NPS offers walking tours in the city from the visitor’s center, and then there are sites outside Beaufort.

Darrah Hall on St. Helena Island is located at the Penn Center. It’s the oldest building at the former location of the Penn School, which was one of the first schools for formerly enslaved people. Camp Saxton is located at the site of Fort Frederick, which was a tabby fort built in the early 1700’s by the British. During the Civil War, it was the home of the 1st South Carolina Infantry (later renamed the 33rd United States Colored Troops).

Constructed for the Civil War, Fort Pulaski National Monument, is just outside of Savannah on Cockspur Island. This one was quite a nice looking, well preserved fort with a moat, along with lots of interpretive signage. There are also trails in the area if you are in the mood for a walk.

The ruined tabby structure of Wormsloe State Historic Site, that includes the foundation of the house along with the fortification surrounding it (which it turns out was another fort of sorts), is the oldest structure in Georgia. It’s a pleasant walk through the woods to visit the historic areas of the site.

There’s not much left of Fort Frederica at this point, Fort Frederica National Monument is now mostly an archeological site on St. Simons Island. It was established in 1736 as a fort and completely fortified town to protect against Spanish attack. Today, the NM includes the town site and there are foundations of some of the houses and a small fort structure to see.

Fort Caroline National Memorial is part of Timucuan National Ecological and Historical Preserve in Jacksonville, FL. There’s not much known about Fort Caroline, including the location and structure, which is why the spot is a National Memorial, but it memorializes a French settlement in 1564.

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, a well preserved Spanish Fort in St. Augustine is probably the most popular site in town. The Spanish founded St. Augustine in 1565 and by the early 1600’s, they built this stone fort to protect their territory from the British. The fort was well set up to visit with lots of interpretive signage to explain the history.