Visiting the Fort Fisher Museum on Kure Beach

Fort Fisher is one of the
coastal forts that protected
Southern ports during
the Civil War.

The Fort faced the sea along

Kure Beach, providing

protection to the Port

of Wilmington.

Even though the Port of

Wilmington was blockaded,

many low profiled ships 

called blockade runners

snuck through gaps between 

Union ships to deliver goods.

Construction of the earthwork

 fort started in the

 spring of 1861.

One of the cannons that

defended Fort Fisher.

Waters at the approaches to

Wilmington were mined.

Fort Fisher fell after two
attacks...

One in December 1864
followed by the successful
attack in January 1865.

The remains of Fort Fisher languished for many years.  With tensions rising in Europe and Asia, the US Army constructed Camp Davis, north of the fort in December 1940.

Camp Davis was an anti-

aircraft training base.

Fort Fisher was used as a 

firing range, followed by the

construction of an airstrip.

After World War II, the Amy decommissioned Fort Fisher, removed equipment and sold off the buildings.  The southern end of Kure Beach and the fort were left to the elements.  

About ten percent of Fort Fisher remains today.  North Carolina Underwater Research Center finds and preserves artifacts from Fort Fisher and other coastal towns and settlements along the North Carolina Coast.