Fort Monroe is in Hampton- it was built between 1819 and 1834. It is at the point where the James and York come together- which is obviously an important spot when you think about protecting the Hampton Roads area- well the whole peninsula really. The English built a fort there in 1609- Fort Algernourne. The decision to build Fort Monroe came about because of the War of 1812 and it is the largest stone fort in the United States. Since we visited it as part of the Civil War class I should mention that the Union held the fort throughout the war- if I am not mistaken the Confederates didn't even bother trying to take it. It is also were Benjamin Butler made his famous contraband decision after three slaves escaped from their masters and went to the fort- their masters then came over the water under a white flag and asked for the slaves return- Butler refused and called the slaves contraband- he had come up with a legal excuse to keep the slaves (he was a lawyer and a political general- which means he had no prior military service and got the post because of his political connections). This opened the floodgates and soon slaves were escaping by the hundreds.
The Army still runs the fort today- it is a training facility- but it is going to be decommissioned soon and returned to the state. This makes me a little nervous since it is prime real estate and could be turned into condos but hopefully they will preserve the fort.
These are the stairs up to the parapet.
We also walked through the wall- I am not sure how to phrase this- we were basically inside the walls of the fort.
And here's the moat. There's just something cool about a moat. I want to live somewhere that has one.
Here we are on the top of the fort- where there is a pet cemetery- crazy right? - the whole parapet is interspersed with headstones for beloved pets.
Here is a view of Saint Mary's church from the top of the fort.
And one of the houses inside the fort.
I believe these are called casemates- I could be wrong- they are where the big guns that protected the fort used to be. There was a headstone between each but I don't think you can see them in the picture.
These are some signs found on the parapet-
And the view of the water...
Pictures from inside the fort...
(the word park is covered by the tree branch in this picture)
I don't know why- but this amused me...
This is the famous Lincoln Gun. You probably can't tell how big it is from the picture- to give you an idea of it's massive size, it would take 150 horses to pull it. And I love these trees.
We then went into the Casemate Museum- which is housed in the walls of the fort. It was kind of fun because they have mannequins all over the place- which also amused me.
Jefferson Davis was imprisoned here for a short period- here's his cell.
And a picture of the flag they hung in his cell.
And a bird that has taken up residence between the barred windows.
I think this is supposed to be his wife.
And this is his pipe- one of the RPAs said it is very badass.
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