Virginians reading the local press celebrating recent developments at Fort Wool (“Reprieve for local migratory birds,” Our Views, Aug. 13) could be forgiven for asking, “Isn’t Fort Wool a historic site I used to be able to visit?”
The reader would be right: Fort Wool was built following the War of 1812, as an island of granite and a companion fort to Fort Monroe, allowing the two forts’ guns together to control access to Hampton Roads. It also served as a summer residence for two presidents, Andrew Jackson and John Tyler, as well as an initial sanctuary for enslaved Americans (known as “contrabands”) fleeing the Confederacy for the protection of the Union Army.
Guns from the fort fired at the ironclad CSS Virginia in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862, and Abraham Lincoln observed the first Union attempt to invade Norfolk from the fort’s ramparts in May 1862. The fort is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and until recently was a tour stop for thousands of tourists a year, arriving on Miss Hampton II, a tour boat originating in downtown Hampton.
Virginians traveling over the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel can see of Fort Wool, lying to the east, just offshore of the man-made South Island, but may not realize the extent of the fort’s surviving historic resources. Construction started in 1819 and for the next 125 years Fort Wool evolved as military technology advanced, resulting in a rare fort that contains military architecture that spans the entire era of America’s seacoast defenses. Notable are remaining granite casemates from the third-system fort (1826), while most of the remaining fortifications date from the early 20th century, including the World War II Battery 229 and its iconic steel tower.
While fully recognizing the need for providing for nesting sites for migratory seabirds and for completing the HRBT expansion, these outcomes need not and should not come at the expense of the permanent loss of a historic treasure.
Virginia should promptly plan for a new site for the birds, including locating needed funding to prepare that site and for restoring Fort Wool to the condition it was in before it was converted to a nesting habitat. That means removing the huge weight of sand now threatening the island’s stability (a major issue for the engineers building Fort Wool), building a permanent dock (critical for public access) and stabilizing the battery commander’s tower and reinforcing the granite casemates (both key efforts, now on hold). These actions would allow safe visitation of the fort and ensure the fort survives so that future generations may learn about its role in American history.
The tourism appeal of Fort Wool is significant and can be built upon. In recent years, thousands of visitors disembarked from the Miss Hampton II to walk the grounds, subject to the supervision of safety-conscious tour guides. The appeal of the site, in the middle of Hampton Roads, near upon the site of the 1862 USS Monitor-CSS Virginia battle, and with dramatic views of the Chesapeake Bay and Fort Monroe is significant. Restoring public tours to historic Fort Wool can take place during the eight months each year when migratory nesting is not occurring as soon as the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation stabilizes the fort’s historic structures and repairs the dock after decades of deferred maintenance.
Both the nesting birds and historic Fort Wool need to be safe guarded. We cannot trade one important resource for another. We are confident Virginia can locate an alternative seasonal nesting habitat and urge it be done promptly. However, it is vital that the citizens of Virginia let their political leaders know that preserving Fort Wool and restoring their access is important to them.
Terry McGovern is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Representative for the Coast Defense Study Group (www.cdsg.org) and a founding member of the Coalition for Historic Fort Wool. He is a resident of McLean.
