until 1947.
After the War of 1812, the United States decided to fortify all of its major ports. French engineer Simon Bernard was appointed to design Fort Pickens. Construction of the fort lasted from 1829 to 1834, with 21.5 million bricks being used to build it. Much of the construction was done by enslaved African Americans. Its construction was supervised by Colonel William H. Chase of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During the American Civil War, he joined the Confederacy and was appointed to command Florida troops.
Fort Pickens was the largest of a group of forts designed to fortify Pensacola Harbor. It supplemented Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and the Navy Yard. Located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore from the mainland, Pickens guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor.
By the time of the American Civil War, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since the Mexican-American War. Despite its dilapidated condition, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, in charge of United States forces at Fort Barrancas, determined that Pickens was the most defensible of the posts in the area.
~Photos courtesy Sonny Boy
~Words courtesty of Wikipedia
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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will join in the fun.
My idea was to have a place to post 'old things'. Anything old
and/or deteriorating such as, but not limited to, old houses, barns, outbuildings, old cars, rusty things, antiques, interesting junk, or it can be something in pristine condition, but just old.
1. Link to a post featuring photos of something old.
2. Link back to Rubbish by Roan in your post.
3. As time allows, visit other participants and comment on their posts.
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20 comments:
I think it's amazing that the fort was used until 1947! REALLY!!?
We have several War of 1812 fords in this area, Have a great week. Tom The Backroads Traveller
That was an interesting piece of history, Roan. We have some abandoned forts in Texas, and some of the buildings are actually being used by private residence. I took some pictures last week to share, so will link next week.
This is so neat! My boys would love to visit there.
I love your idea, but I just happened on this today so I linked an older post. I will keep this in mind for future posts too. This reminds me of Ft Monroe in VA.
We visited this fort many years ago and while visiting Apalachicola, FL. You captured some cool images within this impressive structure. Nice reading the back-story, too.
Interesting place to add to the list!
Looks like a fun place to visit.
Been there. I think it is also where they imprisoned Geronimo for a time. Our daughter was walking along a little behind us and I heard her say "Look a snake" very calmly. We turned to see a snake curled up on the bricks of the wall just at her eye level! I'm sure it wasn't venomous, but it was a very unnerving moment. We couldn't believe how calmly she made her announcement! :-)
And now the fort looks so peaceful. What a ghastly place to be imprisoned! I am glad it is no longer used for anything except as a sad relic.
cool earth-mounded structure.
That's a very cool structure!
Great post and photos! So interesting about Geronimo. I love stuff like this. :-)
Wonderful history and images!
LV wrote about your blog and I came over to visit. I added some great rusty stuff from a post I wrote last year. Thanks for hosting.
Joy
A fascinating old place and an even more fascinating history lesson. Thanks for that.
What gorgeous shots of the building.
i can't remember if i've seen this one...they are so interesting to tour!
Geronimo. Fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting. Thanks and thanks to sonny boy too.
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