Fort Sumter, SC

Fort Sumter surprised us. Everyone has heard of the famous first shot of the Civil War, but I can honestly say neither Tom nor I realized what was involved. This is an amazing structure in the middle of the harbor. 

It is well worth the visit.

Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry sea fort located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.^[4][5] In 1966, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[3]

Named after General Thomas Sumter, Revolutionary War hero, Fort Sumter was built following the War of 1812, as one of a series of fortifications on the southern U.S. coast. Construction began in 1829,^[6] and the structure was still unfinished in 1861, when the Civil War began. Seventy thousand tons of granite were imported from New England to build up a sand bar in the entrance to Charleston Harbor, which the site dominates. The fort was a five-sided brick structure, 170 to 190 feet (52 to 58 m) long, with walls five-feet thick (1.5 m), standing 50 feet (15.2 m) over the low tide mark. It was designed to house 650 men and 135 guns in three tiers of gun emplacements, although it was never filled near its full capacity.

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