Fort Wool, Virginia-- Part 1

From the July 4, 2011, Virginia Daily Pilot.

Fort Wool, originally named Fort Calhoun, is on a man-made island in the middle of Hampton Roads, Virginia, guarding the northern side of the channel in combination with Fort Monroe.

A young officer named Robert E. Lee was stationed there at one time.

The fort was off-limits from 2003 to 2006 after Hurricane Isabel wrecked the pier.  Some 20,000 people visited it each year.  Today, the Miss Hampton II Harbor Cruises run two trips each day to the fort from downtown Hampton.

Fort Monroe has always been much more famous, especially back in 2011 when the Army was preparing to turn it over to the State of Virginia.

The Army left Fort Wool in 1967 and turned it over to the Virginia.  The town of Hampton leases it from the state.

It was built after the War of 1812 as a further deterrent to the British.  Construction began in 1819 when crews began dumping tons of granite boulders  Four years later, an island rising six feet from the water had been formed.  It was one of 41 forts built by the United States for defense of coastal waters. 

More to Come.  --Old B-Runner