Yesterday we went on a homeschool field trip to Fort Fisher in Wilmington, NC. It was about a three hour drive, but we were all able to meet at the church and divide up in different cars so that we could ride with our friends. Made the trip much more enjoyable!
THE FERRY
We took a ferry ride over the Cape Fear River to Pleasure Island, where the fort was located. Most of us kids had never been on a ferry. The water was beautiful, and we all enjoyed the ride, though the wind was blowing rather hard and it was useless to try to keep your hair in place for all the pictures we took!
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| the ferry boat |
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| Bethany and Lauren Hutchins |
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| Daniel and his buddy, Caleb Hoyle |
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| Leah Greene, Elaina Hutchins, and Bethany |
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| Amber Hoyle, Megan Moore, and I |
Feeding the seagulls...
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| Cowboy Dan |
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| Daniel and Mom |
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| All of us girls, waiting to have lunch |
THE FORT
The love of history in me demands that I give a little history of Fort Fisher. =)
For those of you who had never heard of Fort Fisher, shame on you! Well, actually, I had never heard of it either... Ahem! Moving right along...
Fort Fisher was the last port to remain open to Confederate blockade runners during the Civil War, and wasn't captured by Federal troops until January of 1865. Wilmington, the port protected by the fort, was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E Lee's Army. When Fort Fisher fell after a massive Federal amphibious assault on January 15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy, and, of course, the war ended only a few months later.
The fort wasn't like one you might think of. It was actually two lines of giant mounds of sand placed in the shape of an L. Between each mound was a dip where a cannon was placed, and inside each mound was a room used as a boomproof or powder magazine.
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| The design of Fort Fisher |
THE TOUR
On Shepherd's Battery...
At Battery Buchanan...
Battery Buchanan was right by the coast so we were able to go down on the beach and splash around a little.
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| Amber and I |
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| Mom and Dad |
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| Elaina and Bethany |
The water was nice and warm. Thankfully the weather was also nice and not too warm!
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| Bethany |
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| Daniel |
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| LBC Homeschool Group |
Fun! Looks like you all had a really fun time! When you told me that you were going to that fort I was thinking, "don't know what's so special about that fort." :D anyways, at least you history genius didn't know about it either :D hehe.
ReplyDeleteI'll be emailing soon...
oh, and I became green with jealousy at seeing you guys in short sleeves! oh well, I'm over it now :D :D