While traveling home from a weekend exploring Bull Island, near Charleston, SC, I took time to visit Fort Moultrie, which is one of the four military installations that have guarded the waterway leading into the city for centuries. Construction was started just prior to the start of the Revolutionary War and the fort served as a defensive structure through that war, the American Civil War, WWI, and WWII. It has been updated several times over the centuries, but now serves as a tourist attraction managed by the National Park Service.
After check into the visitor's center, I walked across the street and entered the fort. It's irregular shape probably served well as a defensible position. The long hallways underneath the fort lead to ammo storage, offices, and other storage areas. All of which have been faithfully redecorated to the appropriate ear. The corridors snake along inside the walls and under the earthen barriers with several points of emergence. I can image this would have been a maze during battle, but probably a fairly safe maze to walk around in even under heavy fire.
On the walls, there area number of gun batteries set up for the different ears in which the fort was in service. As I walk around these areas, it's interesting to see the contrast in cannons/guns from one war to the next. In the center, there is a double-walled building that served as gunpowder storage. The extra wall providing some level of additional protection from unexpected explosions.
Leaving the fort, I head out towards the shoreline. In the distance, Fort Sumter is visible. These two forts combined were designed to secure the main entrance way into Charleston via the estuary. I spend a little more time exploring around the outside of the fort before returning to my car. It's always interesting to visit these historical places and try to understand what it would have been like to be here in the earlier period.
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