Fort Norfolk is a four acre fort on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia. It is one of 19 coastal forts authorized by President Washington. Many of its 1800s structures still stand.
Troops from the fort helped defeat British troops in the War of 1812, and as such is one of the best-preserved sites from that conflict.
The Naval Museum, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Norfolk Historical Society have gotten together to rehabilitate some of the structures and to create an exhibit and lecture center and hope to have it finished by the War of 1812 bicentennial. It will be in a 6000 square foot magazine that was built by the Navy in 1850 to store explosive ammunition. It is a series of domed cells designed to implode in case of an explosion with walls nearly four feet thick.
The Secretary of the Navy has designated 6 ports for the bicentennial and Norfolk is one of them.
Fort Norfolk was abandoned in 1834 after the completion of Fortress Monroe.
CIVIL WAR
During the conflict, ammunition from this magazine was used aboard the CSS Virginia. After recapture by the Union it was used as a prison for blockade-runners (but they didn't catch me). rare Civil War graffiti can still be seen on the walls of the officers quarters. There is one of a Union officer with a chamberpot on his head.
Never Heard of This Fort Before. --B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
