Fort Fisher: Historical land use

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Fort Fisher Historical land use
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Colonel Lambs Vision
I determined at once to build a work of such
magnitude that it could withstand the heaviest
fire of any guns in the American Navy
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View from the Cape Fear River
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View from the Atlantic Ocean
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The Malakoff Tower of the South
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The fall of Fort Fisher

• The fate of Wilmington was sealed upon the fall
  of Fort Fisher in January of 1865

• Military troops left shortly after the fall of
  the fort leaving behind fragments of shells,
  bayonets, and other pieces of iron

• 1907 veterans reunited and began to take action
  to preserve the remnants of the battlefield

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Land use since the end of the Civil War

• 1881 New Inlet was closed to help navigation of
  the CFR
• By 1928 nearly 400 feet of beach had been lost,
  yet construction of Highway 421 began
• 1939-1945 WW II took precedence over historical
  preservation
• During the war military housing was built and
  firing range was established to train troops
• Portions of the mounds were bulldozed for
  construction of a military airstrip

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Land use since the end of the Civil War

• Fort Fisher was abandoned following the end of
  the war
• State of NC acquired the remnants of the fort
• NC Historical Society built the museum on the
  site of the old airstrip
• Shephards Mound was rebuilt near CFR
• Recently the NC Historical Society built a
  seawall of granite to preserve remaining
  battery mounds

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Shephards Battery today
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Museum overlooking former airstrip
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View from Atlantic ocean today
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Granite sea wall overlooking Atlantic
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References
North Carolina Historical Sites Fort Fisher
Museum. 2000. Gragg. R. 1994. Confederate
Goliath. Louisiana State University Press
Baton Rouge, 343pp. Leatherman, S.P. 1979.
Barrier Islands From the Gulf of St. Lawrence to
the Gulf of Mexico. Academic Press New York,
325pp. Leatherman, S.P. 1988. Barrier Island
Handbook. Coastal Publication Series
Maryland, 92 pp. Moore, M. A. 1999. The
Wilmington campaign and the battles for Fort
Fisher. Savas Publishing Co. Iowa, 210
pp. Pilkey, O.H., W.J. Neal, S.R. Riggs, C.A.
Webb, D.M. Bush, D. F. Pilkey, J. Bullock, B.A.
Cowan. 1998. The North Carolina shore and its
barrier islands. Durham Duke University
Press.