Guardians of Charleston Harbor
Two forts stand at the entrance of Charleston Harbor. Patriots inside a palmetto log fort, later named Fort Moultrie, defeated the Royal Navy in 1776. As Charleston blazed a path towards secession to preserve slavery, construction on a new fort, Fort Sumter, proceeded. The Confederacy fired on the US garrison of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 opening the Civil War, which redefined American freedom.
It took two visits to see everything. Our first visit was spent at the Visitor's Center in Charleston and a trip over to Fort Moultrie. The Visitor center in Charleston offers a great overview of the History of Fort Sumter and the events that led up to the Civil War. We decided to wait on a trip out to Fort Sumter and instead took in Fort Moultrie. The Fort is a sub unit of the Park and will worth the time to check out. This Fort played an important part in the Fort Sumter story. Took in the Visitor's center and then had a great walk around the grounds with the dogs. Dogs are not allowed in the Fort but somehow we missed that fact so the girls got to take in the Fort also. We planned on being back in Charleston later so we saved the Fort Sumter visit till later.
28 May 2016
We took the ferry out to Fort Sumter from Patriots Point. We did not have good timing as the rains from TS Bonnie showed up on our way out to the Fort. We took in the Fort or should we say what's left of it. There is a Visitors Center to see, then we did a walk around the grounds. They give you an hour between arriving and leaving and we felt that was more then enough time to see everything.
Click here for photos of our visit ( Fort Sumter )
Click here for photos of our visit ( Fort Moultrie )
NPS Website
Our 117th NPS Unit
