Fort Morgan & Lighthouses, Mobile Bay, Alabama

Monday March 23, 2015

We decided to go to Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay, Alabama.  There is a lighthouse there to see as well as the fort and we will be able to see a second lighthouse in the bay.

It was a nice car drive and took about an hour.  Bryan got in for free as military and I paid $3.  The fort was built between 1819 & 1833.  We find it fascinating to walk around these sites and imagine what it was like to be a soldier in those times.

We started at the visitor centre where we got our lighthouse passport stamped.  We got two stamps here.

The fresnal lens' from the Sand Island Lighthouse & the Mobile Point Lighthouse

A story about a "Stewart"

This was the site of Fort Bowyer which was built to defend against British attacks.

This small beach is here as well.

Looks as though a small boat was wrecked.

Drilling platform off the coast.  See the cannon in the foreground.

This cannon was mounted in a defensive position outside the fort walls overlooking the beach

Battery Schenk was outside of the fort walls

Bryan taking a picture on top of Battery Schenk

Battery Thomas was undergoing maintenance and cordoned off. 

There was a memorial 

The entrance to the fort was quite impressive. 

Sue approaching the first entryway

Bryan taking pictures between the first entryway and the second entrance

The next two pictures are what Bryan was taking in the picture above.  This land was between the outer and inner walls of the fort.

The second entryway was ornate

The next picture is a close up of the stone at the top centre of the above picture.

Once through the second entryway, we were in a grass rectangle surrounded by bunkers/tunnels.  Some were being renovated but there were still a lot to explore.

Before we explored the tunnels Bryan climbed these steep steps to go around the top of the fortress.  I didn't attempt them as they were VERY steep.  Bryan looks small on them!!!!

There were gun mounts on the top.

and he got a picture of me searching for a four leaved clover in the grass below.  I look like the wicked witch looking for herbs to make my potions.  Watch out everyone who has been mean to me you never know!!

When he came back down we explored the tunnels/bunkers. 

Gun Magazine in the fort. 

This picture shows the calcium build up hanging from the roof inside the tunnels.  

 This seemed to go on forever & ever

A gun mount

Cannon

This led out to the back of the fort

Look at the different colors the moisture has made when combined with the brick

We love the colors in this picture that Bryan took

Water running down from the drainage pipe outside

The back of the fort

Cactus growing

Sue admiring the architecture and colors that nature has formed

This explains what they tried to do about the water seepage.

Bryan taking a picture

Some of the tunnels lead to a dead end and you didn't know until you turned the corner only to come face to face with a wall.  We said that LeeAnn, Aimee, Bailey and Kai would have loved it here and they certainly could have saved our legs by going ahead and telling us where the dead ends were.  Where are the grandkids when you need them??

We went out at the back of the fort and climbed a small hill.  There was an area where it looked as though they kept their maintenance equipment.  We saw these wild flowers.

 There was a birding trail but we didn't go along it as we had already walked quite a bit and still had a lot more fort to explore.

We found Sand Island Lighthouse that we were looking for out in the bay.

 and Mobile Point Lighthouse.  Although this one was on land this was the closest we could get to it as it seemed the only access was through the area where Battery Thomas was closed.

We made our way back to the car so we could drive around the rest of this fort.  They were more batteries within the park. 

Battery Bowyer

Battery Bowyer

Peace Magazine

Peace Magazine

Battery Dearborn

Battery Dearborn

Gun Mount at Battery Dearborn

Bryan taking a picture of me from the magazine at Battery Dearborn

This is the picture he took

 The final picture is Bryan walking between the battery buildings.  He really enjoys investigating old buildings.

This fort was similar to others we have seen but there were far more open areas to explore.  The other forts had a lot more areas closed so you couldn't access the batteries and all areas of the fort.  Here we managed to see most of it apart from areas they were currently renovating.  What a great day we had.