Fort Pulaski National Monument

Fort Pulaski occupies Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River, where it was built between 1829 and 1847 to guard Savannah from attack by sea. The five-sided brick fort has walls 7½ feet thick, a triangular demilune and a wet moat, and it sits within a system of dikes and drainage ditches. It was one of a chain of coastal forts designed by French engineer Simon Bernard for the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1862 Federal rifled artillery reduced the fort quickly, a result that made masonry forts obsolete. Other resources on the island include brick cisterns and workmen's village foundations from the construction years, a granite pier of 1829-30, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse of about 1840, Battery Horace Hambright of about 1895, a quarantine station residence of about 1896, and a 1950 memorial to John Wesley's 1736 landing. Restoration in the 1930s left the fort in excellent condition, with siege damage still visible.