Fort Pulaski

Today I ventured out from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, my no-longer-undisclosed location, and visited Fort Pulaski National Monument, located on Cockspur Island, Georgia.  The entrance to the monument is about 10 miles east of Savannah along U.S. route 80.

Construction on Fort Pulaski started in 1829 and was completed in 1847.  In 1833, the fort was named after Polish cavalry officer Kazimierz Pułaski, who fought for the newborn United States in the American Revolution.  He was hit by grapeshot while leading a cavalry charge in the siege of Savannah, and died shortly afterwards.  Later on during the Civil War, Union forces took Fort Pulaski from the Confederacy in 1862.

Due to my Polish heritage, I wanted to visit Fort Pulaski when I was in this area in 2019, but there was a partial federal government shutdown, which resulted in the fort being closed.  Today, however, I had no such problem.  To the west side of the fort's main building is a group of mounds surrounded by a triangular moat, seen here from its west end.  Visitors enter via the bridge to the right.

One of the mounds has some inner passages which may be reached through this entrance.

Inside the main part of the fort, a cannon points toward the entrance.

The interior space contains another cannon, a mortar, and a flagpole.  Another cannon is mounted on the fort's wall.

These two cannons are mounted to shoot through openings in the wall.

I found my way to a stairwell and walked up to the top of the wall.  This cannon is mounted on a rotating platform, with another platform without a cannon in the background.

Two cannons of a different type were mounted on rotating platforms of a different type on another section of the wall.

The fort's interior space also includes a large tree.

On the wall's west side is a wheel-mounted cannon of the type used for field artillery.

From the top of the wall's west side, I could see the moat on the south side of the mounds, with the same bridge by which visitors enter the fort.  The visitor center is in the background.

I could also see the moat between the fort's main building and the group of mounds.  The bridge seen here, like the first bridge, is along the path visitors take to enter the main building.

The monument includes several other places besides the fort.  A short trail leads to this monument to John Wesley, founder of the Methodists.  He arrived in the British colony of Georgia in 1736, but left about a year later.

Near the monument to Wesley is Battery Hambright, built between 1899 and 1901.  The trail to the Wesley monument branches off from the trail that passes this battery.

Finally, the trail passing Battery Hambright leads to the remains of the North Pier, seen here.

To learn more, besides the links above, go to Visit Tybee Island, National Parks Conservation Association, Savannah Sightseeing Tours and American Battlefield Trust.