Fort Area: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Fort Monroe National Monument
Hanna J. 2020. Fort Area: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Fort Monroe National Monument. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 976164. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Fort Area of Fort Monroe National Monument is located on the 2.6-mile long Old Point Comfort peninsula in Hampton, Virginia. The peninsula comprises the southeastern tip of the larger Virginia Peninsula, and is bordered by Mill Creek to the west and the confluence of the Hampton Roads harbor and lower Chesapeake Bay to the south and east. The 325-acre park is comprised of two non-contiguous units, the 93-acre Fort Area and the 232-acre North Beach Area, both of which lie within the larger 565-acre Fort Monroe Historic District that covers the entire peninsula. When Fort Monroe closed as an active US Army post in 2011, the park was established by Presidential Proclamation. The purpose of the park is to “preserve, protect, and provide for the appropriate public use of the historical, natural and recreational resources of Old Point Comfort, strategically located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and to interpret its storied history in the European colonization of our nation, exploration of the bay, slavery in America and the struggle for freedom, and the defense of our nation.” (FD 2015: 14) The Fort Area is located at the southern tip of Old Point Comfort and includes Fort Monroe and portions of former military facilities that surround it. The fourth fortification built at the tip of the peninsula, Fort Monroe was built between 1819 and 1834 to defend the strategic point where the James and York rivers meet the Chesapeake Bay. The fort itself is one of the best preserved examples of the nation’s Third System of Coastal Defenses, its stone bastions and casemates, earthen ramparts and terrepleins, and a tidal moat fed by Mill Creek covers around 63 acres. Within the fort is grass-covered Parade Ground surrounded by buildings, parking areas, and paved roads. The landscape of the Fort Area is characterized by grass lawns dotted with scattered trees and shrubs, including remarkable specimens of native southern live oaks surrounding the Parade Ground, one of which is over 450 years old. Other features include the Lincoln Gun, a 15-inch weapon dating to the American Civil War, displays of cannon and cannon balls, and an old brick cistern. Outside of the fort, former brick and wood military quarters and administration buildings, primarily from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, line Ingalls Road and Fenwick Roads. These roads converge on The Chamberlin, a former hotel dating to the late 1920s. Standing amongst the stately officers’ residences is the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, the park’s oldest structure dating to 1802 that still serves as an active navigational landmark.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hanna, Jennifer
- Date of Issue
- 2020-09-29
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- FOMR , NER
- Keywords
- architecture, Benjamin Butler, cannon, Chesapeake Bay, Civil War, cold war, concrete battery, contraband decision, emplacement, endicott gun battery, engineering, ethnic history, fort, Fort Monroe Historic District, fortification, hotel, indigenous cultural landscape, Jefferson Davis, lighthouse, Lincoln Gun, masonry fortification, military, military training facility, moat, National Historic Landmark, navigation, Old Point Comfort, Parade Ground, period revivals, Robert E Lee, salt march, slavery, social history, southern live oak, Third System of Coastal Defenses, tourism, transportation, turf, US Army, Virginia, world war II