21 July Fort Monroe

Catching up with Jack and Jan began yesterday with a dinghy ride into Hampton for coffee and provisions, dinner on board Anthem and today coffee at the Old Firehouse next to the moated Fort Monroe.

coffee at the Firehouse

Energised with caffeine on a very hot day we set off to explore Old Point Comfort and the largest fort claimed to have ever been built in America.

old houses...

..and a load of old balls

The first English settlers arrived here around 1600 and in 1619 the first ''20 and odd'' Africans were brought to the English colonies. During the American Civil War three enslaved men escaped from the Confederates and sought asylum at the Union held Fort Monroe. From then many more escaped from slavery in the South to seek sanctuary in the North and Monroe became known as Freedom Fort.

Residences within Fort Monroe

St Mary Star of the Seas church

Today Fort Monroe is a National Monument. It was an army base and there are still houses where people live and work (not sure of it's use today). Robert E Lee was posted here at one time as was Edgar Allen Poe. In the late nineteenth early twentieth century tourists flocked to stay at the Chamberlain hotel which is now a retirement home. There is a museum. Sadly it has been closed since the middle of March, but we were able to walk the ramparts until the heat drove us back to our dinghy at the Old Point Comfort marina.