The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Fort Fisher Coquina Rock

Coquina stone exists along the east coast of Florida and all the way as far north as Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Coquina is incompletely consolidated sedimentary rock. It kind of looks like a Rice Krispy's bar.

The walls of the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Fl., are built of this substance.

Where available, coquina is sometimes used as a paving material since it is usually not very well cemented and easily breaks down into components like shell or coral fragments and can be used for gravel and crushed harder rocks.

There is a FlickR photo of coquina rocks at Fort Fisher and the recently discovered Fort Fisher lighthouse had a ring of coquina between an outer and inner brick walls.

I'm not sure, but I believe coquina rock was removed from an offshore reef to build a foundation for US-421 and that caused the ocean to come in and cover so much of the fort.

Mother Nature at the Fort. --B-R'er

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