First we have Ft. Pickney also known as Castle Pickney. This small fort was built as a defence for the Charleston Harbour during the Civil War. Its small size and the fact that it was built on soggy ground only about a foot above sea level made it prone to flooding during storms and it could only handle light artillery and only rudimentary fortifications. When the city of Charleston slated it for demolition the organization “Daughters of the Confederacy stepped in and bought the ruins for a dollar with promises to maintain the fort for historical prosperity. There are no visitors allowed on the island and can only be viewed by boat.
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The second fort is Ft. Sumpter and is positioned right in the middle of the entrance to Charleston Harbour. This is there the first shots of the Civil War too place but some say that Ft Moultrie fired the first shots in 1860 on a delegation from the north after South Carolina seceded. Its a moot point, Ft. Moultrie pounded Sumpter into submission and today all that’s left are the first floor of the fort and the ruins inside, when it was first built it was impressive with 3 stories of fortifications. During the Spanish American war they rebuilt a costal defence implacement within the ruins of old Sumpter and was used till the end of WW2 them was decommissioned and turned into a national landmark.
Thoughts From The Road 