Amy Hotz in the March 29th Wilmington Star News reports that the first major excavations will be done at the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson site on the west bank of the Cape Fear River from April 7th to 9th.
The public has been invited to watch and ask questions. In 1952, the Sprunt family (very famous in Cape Fear history) donated 114.5 acres of the site to the state and the Episcopal Church added another 4.5. State historian and archaeologist Stanley South did a lot of work at the site in the 50s and 60s. Foundations of colonial buildings and the earthworks remain.
The major emphasis will be on a gun emplacement in the Confederate fort where a 40 by 25 foot grid has been laid out. The Marine Corps has already done a sweep of the area and found no explosives or metal, always a good idea when digging around a battle site.
Three test holes dug back in September found brick and ballast stone probably from the colonial village that had been used by Confederates constructing the earthen fort. It is hoped that the system used for building Fort Anderson and the gun platform will be ascertained from the dig. There are big hopes that some remnants of the original gun platform will also be found.
This is also being done in preparation for the Civil War sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) which starts in 2011.
Hopin' They Find Something. --Blockade-R
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
