We got up early—for me—and went to Patriots Point to catch the ferry at 10:30 a.m. to go to the island where Fort Sumter is located. The aircraft carrier Yorktown is moored there and it is used as a museum and also kids are allowed to come and stay overnight. They sleep in the bunks that the sailors used and have meals in the mess hall on board. What a great idea and learning tool. We didn’t tour the Yorktown, but saw hundreds of kids boarding!
We boarded the ferry to the fort. As you can see it was an overcast day. It had rained during the night and we did carry our umbrellas just in case it started to rain again.
Our first view of the fort. This was once a three story structure.
You can see above what has been excavated from beneath the rubble that once was three stories of fortifications.
The shot that started the Civil War was not fired from Fort Sumter, but above it from the Confederate held Fort Johnson.
Once the confederate army controlled the fort then it had to defend it against the Union forces.
There were many different kinds of guns and cannon used defending the fort during the Civil War.
If you double click on the photo above you can maximize it and read about the siege of the fort by the Union army. Below is a picture of a shell still imbedded in the wall of the fort.
If you look closely at the mortar work around the bricks you will see all the oyster shells instead of gravel, that were used to build the fort.
The battery that was used up until the end of WWII.
The flags that flew over the fort.
We only had an hour to tour the fort. I took many more pictures of the guns and the ruins, so as to remember what happened here so many year ago. These pictures are just some of the high lights of the area.
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