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| South entrance of sallyport tunnel, bombproof tunnel at far left left; earthworks looking toward visitor center, gun emplacement at top right; click to enlarge (Photos courtesy Fort Fisher State Historic Site) |
Historic rainfall along a stretch of North Carolina’s coast heavily eroded replica earthworks going up at Fort Fisher, creating a cascade of mud and delaying the
opening of a new visitor center by at least a month.
Communities
south of Wilmington – among them Kure Beach and Carolina Beach – received more
than 18 inches of rain in 12 hours on Sept. 16. The National Weather Service
said such inundation occurs once every 200 years.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site now says the park reopening, originally set for this
Friday, will be pushed back until the earthworks are completed. Officials are
not sure when that will occur.
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| A bleak view of the north end of the sallyport tunnel, amid shifted dirt and debris |
“There
has been a fair amount of damage around the site due to flooding/storm damage.
Some trees and limbs came down, along with some pieces of the (replica)
palisade fence,” said assistant site manager Chad Jefferds.
The visitor center
roof had a small leak and the road to a park maintenance facility was washed
out. “The sand in the washout was essentially quicksand.”
By far the
biggest damage was to the unusual earthworks project.
The site closed
in April to make way for completion of the visitor center and the recreation of three traverses, bombproofs, a magazine and the sally
port. Fort Fisher’s use during World War II helped the Allied cause but
destroyed some of its familiar defensive traverses. They were removed to make way for an airstrip when
the area was used for training anti-aircraft and coastal artillery units.
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| View from the visitor center to the north parking lot on Sept. 16. |
Jefferds said
beyond scraping away much of the muck at the earthworks site, the contractor
must wait for the proper moisture levels for replacing dirt. “It’s not a simple
process.”
“The Underwater Archaeology Branch
facility sustained some damage from water intrusion. There are many homes on
the island that took major flood damage and some condos have been condemned,”
said Jefferds.
A photograph the site posted to social media on Friday was
taken last Monday from the front of the visitor center facing north toward the
parking lot. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the storm,” the
park wrote.
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| Entrance to the sallyport tunnel as the storm is happening, fallen tree elsewhere |
The state historic site near
Kure Beach will feature a two-story visitor center and museum..
Fort Fisher was built on the peninsula between the Cape Fear
River and the Atlantic Ocean, south of Wilmington. It is best known as a
crucial coastal bastion for the Confederacy.
On Jan. 15, 1865, after a naval bombardment, the Federal army
attacked from the western, river side while Marines pushed in from the
northeast bastion. The fall of the “Gibraltar of the
South” cut off blockade runners and the last supply line through
Wilmington to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
