{"nrhp_refnum":"69000339","name":"Fort Wool","other_names":["Fort Calhoun"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Island between Willoughby Spit and Old Point Comfort","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hampton (Independent City)","county":"Hampton","state":"VA","lat":36.98657318800005,"lon":-76.30036535674463,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fort Wool, formerly Fort Calhoun, is a coastal fortification on a fifteen-acre man-made granite island at the entrance to Hampton Roads, Virginia, about one mile south of Fort Monroe. Construction began in 1819.","why_significant":"The fort was part of the early nineteenth-century coastal defense plan that also included Fort Monroe. Robert E. Lee supervised part of its construction, and President Lincoln watched Union troops embark from it to seize Norfolk. It was reactivated in both World Wars and shows a wide variety of military architecture.","narrative":"Built on a fifteen-acre island of large granite blocks at the mouth of Hampton Roads, Fort Wool began in 1819 as Fort Calhoun. It was part of a coastal defense plan devised by Secretary of War George Graham that also produced Fort Monroe. Work proceeded slowly until the Civil War, and Robert E. Lee supervised part of the construction. By 1861 the lower tier held fifty-two casemates and 187 men were stationed there. The fort was renamed in 1862 for Major General John Wool, and President Lincoln watched Union troops embark from it to seize Norfolk. After going ungarrisoned from 1886 until World War I, it served again in both World Wars. Surviving features include the western ramparts, Civil War batteries, powder and storage rooms, and World War I and II towers and a command post. Abandoned by 1953 and returned to Virginia in 1967, it stands as a ruin valued for its varied military architecture and harbor setting.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as abandoned and in a decaying, ruinous state; returned to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1967 and proposed to be developed as a recreation area.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.373932-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/6811/41681123/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000339.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000339/684831ad56-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000339/684831ad56-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"William Grimes at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FtWool.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">William Grimes at English Wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FtWool.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681123","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wool","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5472371"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/hampton/fort-wool-69000339/"}