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Visiting old forts

Started by MATraveler128, August 03, 2022, 09:11:10 AM

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MATraveler128

Does anyone else visit old forts that were used during battle? I’ve recently developed interest in checking these places out as I think it is cool to see how they were used at the time. I’ve personally visited 3, Castle Island in Boston, Fort Stark in New Castle, NH and Fort McClary in Kittery, ME. I’m very interested in visiting more in the future.
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Max Rockatansky

I have a pretty extensive photo collection given a lot are National Park sites and I generally like military history.  I have a lot of abandoned base photos too but that generally runs way more modern.

CapeCodder

Fort Osage in Sibely, MO. It's a cool fort, as is Fort de Chartres in Illinois.

GaryV

It was never used in battle, but we have visited Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor several times. Plus Fort Mackinac and Fort Michilimackinac. We went to Fort Wayne in Detroit many years ago to watch the (then called) Freedom Festival fireworks. I think that's all the sites of forts in Michigan that have structures, either original or recreated. We've been at the site of Fort Brady in Sault Ste Marie as well.

We've also been to several other forts outside the state. One particularly notable one is the old Northwest Company fort outside Thunder Bay, ON. It's been totally rebuilt in a new location (the original location is under the rail yards IIRC). But it is totally accurate, because the British Army sent an officer to survey the fort at the time of the War of 1812, in case they had to use it to repel American invaders. The survey had complete plans of all the battlements and buildings. The people playing reenactment roles were also some of the best we've ever seen, almost never "breaking character" when talking with visitors.


hotdogPi

I took a trip to Quebec City in 2019. The centre of the city is inside a fort, but we just happened to be inside.

Methuen, MA has a stone wall presumably formerly guarding stuff that's maybe 4 feet high. There's a date inscription of 1898 in one part of the wall. However, I don't know if it was actually used for anything. Pond St. in Salem NH has a wall of similar height that's unconnected to the one in Methuen (but it's smaller); again, I don't know if it was used for anything.

The one in Methuen is visible from several streets; one example is in this GSV link.
The one in Salem can be seen in this GSV link.

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Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

7/8

I have vague memories going to Fort York in Toronto and the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia as a kid. I did a school trip to Quebec City (a walled city) in Grade 8.

Two years ago I visited two great examples:
- Tallinn, Estonia, a walled city from the 13th century. I think the Old City was the highlight of my Europe trip. We climbed up the Town Hall Tower, visited a history museum, and walked a good portion of the streets.
- Suomenlinna, an island fortress in Helsinki. The island has great views of the city and the Baltic Sea. There's some shops on the island, several old tunnels to wander through, and even an open prison (though you can't enter that).


webny99

I've been to Fort Niagara (and inside the old fort) twice, once on a school trip. Definitely worth a stop if you're into history and probably even if you're not.

Dirt Roads

Three here in North Carolina worth their weight in cannonballs:

  • Fort Macon State Park, north of Atlantic Beach
  • Camp Caswell (which encompasses the older Fort Caswell), north of Caswell Beach now a resort park owned by Baptist State Convention of North Carolina but open to public (for a small fee)
  • Fort Fisher State Historic Site, south of Kure Beach
While you are at it, it's well worth the ferry trip over to Bald Head Island.  There's no fort, per se, but the lighthouse area was once fortified and bears the scars of many cannonballs.  No cars are permitted on the island, but you can rent golf carts and bicycles.  Wander around enough, and you will find historical markers for other fortified areas.  The British constructed Fort George there during the Revolutionary War, and the Confederates also built Fort Holmes there (which did not see action).

And since I'm on that theme, don't forget Ocracoke Island.  Also no fort there, but the entire village is steeped in pirating culture that itself fits the fort mentality.  Indeed, the Confederates built Fort Ocracoke and destroyed it themselves in 1861 after receiving word that Union forces had taken over Fort Hatteras.  Union forces took down the remainder a month later.

1995hoo

I've visited the Fortress of Louisbourg twice, once in August 1982 and again in July 2008. It's worth a visit if you're in Nova Scotia. Also worth a visit is the Halifax Citadel. I'm not aware of it ever having been involved in any battles, but it's worth a visit anyway. I've also been there twice, on the same two trips mentioned in the first sentence of this post. The Citadel was more impressive to me as a little kid (I was nine years old in 1982) than on my second visit, but I think I understood the various aspects of the fort better as an adult.

I don't know whether you'd count Edinburgh Castle as a "fort," but various aspects of its design and location feel like one. Well worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

I'm sure I've visited others, but off the top of my head I'm not recalling them. Our parents tried to stop at places like forts when we were kids, if the opportunity arose, because those are the types of things boys tend to find interesting.

Sometime I'd like to get down to Charleston to visit Fort Sumter. I've passed through the area on US-17 on the way south to Florida, but we didn't have time to stop.

Walled cities I can think of that I've visited include Quebec City and Tallinn, both mentioned above, as well as Visby, a Swedish walled city on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Visby was really scenic.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

LM117

I initially read the thread title as "Visiting old farts". Guess I still haven't fully woken up yet. :pan:
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Rothman

I've been to many old forts, usually associated with the National Park Service, but not always.

Fort Ticonderoga
Fort William Henry
Fort Stanwix
Castle Clinton
Castle Williams (Governors Island)
Fort Necessity
Fort Monroe
Fort McHenry
Fort Sumter
Fort Moultrie
Bent's Old Fort
A couple of the old DC Civil War forts
Castillo de San Marcos
Fort Matanzas
Fort Caroline
Fort Jefferson (Dry Tortugas)
Fort Davis
Fort Frederica
Fort Laramie
Fort Robinson
Fort Larned
Fort Point
Fort Pulaski
Fort Raleigh
Fort Scott
Fort Union (ND/MT)
Fort Vancouver
Fort Washington (MD)
Fortress Rosecrans (Stones River NB)

...

Eh, whatever.  Been to too many forts on old battlefields to count.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Takumi

I've frequented the old forts on the Richmond and Petersburg battlefields many times. Good walking trails between them, and good spots to play Pokemon Go.
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Scott5114

As part of a scout trip, I stayed the night inside the barracks at Fort Washita, an old fort near the Texas-Oklahoma border that was used to protect the Native tribes who had been forcibly relocated to Indian Territory from the tribes that were already here. A few years after I stayed there, the barracks burned down.
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1995hoo

Rothman mentions Fort McHenry. I had forgotten that I'd visited there. Well worth a visit, and make sure you watch the movie in the visitors' center. The end of the movie gave me goosebumps. That may have been one of the most moving parts of the visit.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

Rothman

Quote from: 1995hoo on August 03, 2022, 02:52:51 PM
Rothman mentions Fort McHenry. I had forgotten that I'd visited there. Well worth a visit, and make sure you watch the movie in the visitors' center. The end of the movie gave me goosebumps. That may have been one of the most moving parts of the visit.
Reactions varied widely on the end of the video when I saw it with a crowd.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

1995hoo

Quote from: Rothman on August 03, 2022, 04:18:39 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 03, 2022, 02:52:51 PM
Rothman mentions Fort McHenry. I had forgotten that I'd visited there. Well worth a visit, and make sure you watch the movie in the visitors' center. The end of the movie gave me goosebumps. That may have been one of the most moving parts of the visit.
Reactions varied widely on the end of the video when I saw it with a crowd.

I'm trying not to post a spoiler for what happens when the video ends. That's what I'm referring to–not per se the video itself but the segue that occurs.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

Rothman

Quote from: 1995hoo on August 03, 2022, 04:47:38 PM
Quote from: Rothman on August 03, 2022, 04:18:39 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 03, 2022, 02:52:51 PM
Rothman mentions Fort McHenry. I had forgotten that I'd visited there. Well worth a visit, and make sure you watch the movie in the visitors' center. The end of the movie gave me goosebumps. That may have been one of the most moving parts of the visit.
Reactions varied widely on the end of the video when I saw it with a crowd.

I'm trying not to post a spoiler for what happens when the video ends. That's what I'm referring to–not per se the video itself but the segue that occurs.
Same here.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Road Hog

Quote from: LM117 on August 03, 2022, 11:13:54 AM
I initially read the thread title as "Visiting old farts". Guess I still haven't fully woken up yet. :pan:
Me too!

Road Hog

I'm more of a battlefield guy. Seen quite a few Civil War battlefields and also a few WWI ones, mainly Verdun.

skluth

Quote from: Road Hog on August 05, 2022, 02:34:16 AM
Quote from: LM117 on August 03, 2022, 11:13:54 AM
I initially read the thread title as "Visiting old farts". Guess I still haven't fully woken up yet. :pan:
Me too!
Whew! I don't feel so bad now.  :ded:

kirbykart

I've been to Old Fort Niagara a couple of times. Once I went to Fort Knox in Maine.

oscar

I visited one fort each in Alaska and Hawaii.

In Sitka AK, Tlingit natives built a fort on what is now Castle Hill, in attempt to fend off Russian invaders. That didn't last, since the Russians' first move after the Tlingit kicked them out of Sitka was to come back with a larger force to seize Castle Hill. Sitka became the new capital of Russian America, until the Russians sold Alaska to the U.S., with the transfer ceremony on Castle Hill. 

On Kauai island, in Waimea HI, is Fort Elizabeth, the remnant of an old Russian fort built as part of a futile attempt to gain a tropical outpost. The Russians were kicked out peacefully, after Kamehameha the Great called out King Kaumualiʻi (who ruled Kauai, but had pledged allegiance to Kamehameha) for playing footsie with the Russians. However, Kaumualii's son later led an attack on the fort, in a rebellion against the Kamehameha dynasty. The rebellion was quickly quashed.

(Hawaii has a long history of brutal battles between the kings who ruled different parts of the islands, before they were unified under Kamehameha the Great. However, I'm not aware of any forts established by Hawaiian rulers.)

Not the same, but Dutch Harbor AK has many remnants of the military defense against Japanese bombardment during World War II. Japanese forces took control of two other islands at the western end of the Aleutians (which I never visited), but didn't invade Dutch Harbor. Dutch Harbor has the Aleutian World War II National Historical Area, with other remnants of U.S. resistance to Japanese attacks. For some of my photos (including of a concrete bunker in front of the Grand Aleutian Hotel were I stayed), see http://www.alaskaroads.com/photos-Unalaska.htm
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

bulldog1979

I've been to Fort Wilkins, Fort Mackinac, Fort Michilimackinac, Alcatraz (it was a fort before it was a prison), the Presidio, and various fortifications of Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands. I've also been to the site of New Fort Brady (now LSSU) in Sault Ste. Marie and probably been at Old Fort Brady while down by the locks.



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