Fort Moultrie National Monument

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Visited: March 2019

Duration: 1/2 day

Accommodations: Downtown Charleston

National Park Trip Season 4- Spring Break Edition is on!  The first half will be a Civil War Expedition and will end with the Spanish Inquisition of Florida. Lets hope for some warm weather for these frigid Iowans along our route.

First stop was Fort Moultrie National Monument located in Sullivan’s Island, SC. This place was small but great.  We lucked out as well, they are teaming up with Fort Sumter and the Junior Ranger badges for this place will be non-existent soon.  We grabbed some Junior Ranger booklets and headed out to the fort for a self guided tour.

There are 10 stops along the self-guided tour. Fort Moultrie has been built 3 times; once in 1776 to protect Charleston from the British, once in 1794 then destroyed by a hurricane in 1804 and the final time in 1809 serving as a fort up to the Civil War.

1st stop is World War 2.

This is the Harbor Entrance Control Post, completed in 1944 it coordinated all of the harbor defenses around Charleston.

Stop #2 Harbor Defense 1898-1939

Battery Bingham and Battery McCorkie were designed to protect the mine field at the entrance to Charleston harbor and to act in conjunction with other batteries on Sullivans island and at Fort Sumter.

Stop #3

1870’s Modernization- after the Civil War the fort was renovated applying concepts learned during that conflict. These weapons located here represent Fort Moultrie in the period from 1873-1898.

Stop #4 Civil War

Great technological changes in coastal defense weapons occurred during this era. Canons at this site represent the alterations made here.

Stop #5 Fort Moultrie III

From 1809-1860 the fort changed little. This section represents the 3rd fort from its construction to the eve of the Civil War.

Stop #6 Fort Moultrie II

1794-1801 the fort was built in response to disagreements with France. It was an important as a part of the First American System of seacoast defenses.

Stop #7 Fort Moultrie I

This site represents the beginnings of harbor defense in the United States.

Stop #8 and Stop #9 Cannon Walk and Battery Jasper

Cannon walk has artillery pieces form Civil War and after. Battery Jasper, this battery integrated heavy artillery, mine fields and rapid fire guns.

We headed back to the Visitor Center because there were some difficult questions to answer in our Jr. Ranger booklet.  We spent about an hour watching the film and looking through the exhibits.  Great Visitor Center with lots of educational experiences.

Kids received their Jr. Rangers and we were off to the next site 🙂

Junior Ranger badges and Passport Stamps! Also on this trip we earned our Junior Ranger Civil war Historian for earning 3 Civil War area Junior Rangers. Pretty sweet!

Join us on our next stops Charles Pinckney National Historical Park and Fort Sumter!