Category: Island
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Fort Zachary Taylor
Key West, Florida (April 2009) Fort Zachary Taylor (map) began its service to the country as one of the Third System coastal fortifications constructed in the wake of the War of 1812. The United States determined that it would be prudent and worthwhile to make their port cities less vulnerable to enemy invasion. This lesson…
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Fort Jefferson
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida (April 2009) Identifying the Need A massive masonry fortress rose on Garden Key, one of the Dry Tortugas, seventy miles away from Key West in the Gulf of Mexico (map). It served as a link in the chain of coastal fortification built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers…
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Fort Sumter
Charleston Harbor, South Carolina (September 2008) The Civil War started at Fort Sumter (map) and its hallowed grounds take on mythic proportions in our collective memory. Perhaps most striking to us, therefore, was its size. It’s tiny. And the island it sits atop is barely larger. I had envisioned something much bolder, something perhaps matching…
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Fort Moultrie
Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina (September 2008) Sullivan’s Island brackets the northern entrance to Charleston Harbor. It seemed natural that a defensive fort should rise along the southwestern flank of the island to protect a vital port city further upstream. From this strategic spot, any ship entering the main shipping channel would pass less than a…
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Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
Roanoke Island, North Carolina (March 2012) We drove onto Roanoke Island from Nags Head. This is the largest island within the Sounds found between the backside of the North Carolina barrier islands and the mainland. Albemarle Sound is to the north, Pamlico Sound to the south, with the much smaller Croatan Sound to the west…
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Fort Pulaski National Monument
Tybee Island, Georgia, USA (July 2006) Fort Pulaski National Monument sits between Savannah and Tybee Island (map). There is no way to miss it while driving between the two — it is the only thing out there other than marshland. The fort has a long history but probably gained its greatest prominence during the Civil…
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Fort Louis
Marigot, Saint-Martin (March 2011) We saw a large hill along the shoreline as we drove down St. Martin’s western coastal road from Grand Case heading into Marigot. An old fortification graced the summit, the ruins of old Fort-Louis (map). We cut into Marigot proper and headed towards the marketplace on this Wednesday morning, arriving early…
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Fort Delaware
Pea Patch Island, New Castle Co., Delaware (July 2000) The newly-minted United States government identified the need for a fort along the Delaware River. This would help protect the approaches to major port cities such as Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The military eyed Pea Patch Island, a swampy swath of river deposit that barely…
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Barwell Island
Resurrection Bay; Seward, Alaska (July 2010) We rode through Resurrection Bay heading out of Seward on one of those all-day Kenai Fjords excursions. We came there to enjoy the natural beauty of the National Park, both the scenery and the animal life. The ship approached Barwell Island (map) at the opening of the bay and…
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Washington Island and Ferry
Door County, Wisconsin (September 2000) Washington Island sits within Lake Michigan off the northernmost point of the Door Peninsula. It is a continuation of the ridge that forms the peninsula except that a portion of it is submerged, so an island forms where the ridge returns to the surface. No bridge connects this island to…