Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park★5.0

How to Get There

From Mount Pleasant (6 mi): Take Coleman Boulevard east to Ben Sawyer Boulevard, cross the Ben Sawyer Bridge onto Sullivan's Island, continue on Middle Street, and arrive at the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park Visitor Center and Fort Moultrie at 1214 Middle Street.

Overview

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park protects two Charleston Harbor forts, along with the Charleston Light and Liberty Square. Fort Sumter is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in April 1861, and Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island shows 170 years of coastal defense history, from the original palmetto log fort of 1776 through World War II.

The National Park Service runs three visitor sites:

• Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center at Liberty Square: exhibits on the causes of the Civil War and the departure point for the tour boats to the fort, which is reachable only by boat
• Fort Sumter museum at the fort itself: the story of its construction and Civil War role
• Fort Moultrie Visitor Center: an orientation film, museum exhibits on seacoast defenses from 1809 to 1947, and a self-guided tour of the fort

The Charleston Light on Sullivan's Island can be viewed from its grounds, which also offer beach access, but it is not open to the public.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0