Here are some odd facts and information about the fort.
In 1794, the French military engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant was surveying for defensive sites. He identified an island that he called "Pip Ash" as an ideal site for the defense of the prize of American commerce and culture".[3][4]
The island that L'Enfant called Pip Ash was locally known as Pea Patch Island. This island was mostly unaffected by humanity with one exception. Dr. Henry Gale, a New Jersey resident, used Pea Patch as a private hunting ground.[3] Gale was offered $30,000 for the island by the US military, but he refused. The military was determined to get the island, so they appealed to the Delaware state legislature, which seized the island from Dr. Gale on May 27, 1813.
PEA PATCH ISLAND — A chill fills the corner of the kitchen at Fort Delaware. The arrival of fall pleads innocent to the plummeting mercury that ghost hunters have measured at 14 degrees below room temperature. The reading indicates a cold spot – a portal to “the other side” or the spirit world.
Fort Delaware, sitting in the middle of the Delaware River, possesses a rich Civil War history and an unworldly populace. Restless souls seem to be the only inhabitants of the former prison and lure believers and skeptics inside its brick-and-granite walls.
The fort hosts Candlelight Ghost Tours, which provide visitors an opportunity for that close and unexplained encounter. Intrepid visitors tread cautiously through the shadowed belly of the fort while listening to historical, legendary and eerie tales. The program usually is offered on spring, summer and fall weekends. Several October dates are planned.
Fort Delaware, sitting in the middle of the Delaware River, possesses a rich Civil War history and an unworldly populace. Restless souls seem to be the only inhabitants of the former prison and lure believers and skeptics inside its brick-and-granite walls.
The fort hosts Candlelight Ghost Tours, which provide visitors an opportunity for that close and unexplained encounter. Intrepid visitors tread cautiously through the shadowed belly of the fort while listening to historical, legendary and eerie tales. The program usually is offered on spring, summer and fall weekends. Several October dates are planned.
The most well-known resident spirit haunts the officers’ kitchen. Okonowicz, who wrote “Civil War Ghosts at Fort Delaware,” told the crowd that during a re-enactment, women, dressed in Civil War era clothing, huddled around a table, preparing food. A woman, thought to be another re-enactor in costume, appeared and observed what the workers were doing. She nodded her approval. No one thought much of the encounter until the woman disappeared into the corner walls.
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All old places seem to have ghost stories.
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