Day 323 (Sunday 6/9/13)- Fort Macon, NC

 

 Constructed in 1834 Fort Macon was initially seen as a forgotten fort. It often was staffed with only a caretaker to oversee the property. This proved to be an especially poor decision during the Civil War.


Easily taking the fort the North Carolina Confederate militia set about making battle preparations. The battle finally came a year later when in 1862 the Union army surrounded the fort.

Forts like Macon had once been known as impenetrable but the invention of rifle canons had changed that. The new canons had much more distance and better aim and after 11 hours of punishing blows the Confederate commander was forced to surrender or have the fort walls crumble around him. This showed both sides how obsolete these types of forts had become. Abandoned following the Spanish American war the fort was not used for military service again until being commandeered during WWII.

Following our tour around the fort we got to see a Ranger fire off a musket (it was filled with toilet paper..still exciting).

The rest of our day was spent touring the town of Wilmington where the TV drama One Tree Hill was filmed. Considering the show among my guilty pleasures I was especially excited to see the front porch where Lucas spent so many nights sneaking girls in.  

 

Wilmington Gardens

 

Wilmington Gardens