If you are in Charleston, SC for a visit, Fort Sumter is definitely a site that you do not want to miss. The Fort is out in the middle of the Charleston Harbor, so you must take a ferry out to the site. The ferries dock at two locations: one at Patriot’s Point and one at the Charleston Aquarium. We opted to leave from the Patriot’s Point location because the parking was cheaper. It is a good idea to make a reservation for the ferry the day before you go because tickets sell out fast. Plan your day so you can spend some time at Patriot’s Point, where the USS Yorktown and USS Lafferty are docked,. In fact, you can view the ships from a unique perspective from the ferry. If you choose to park at the Aquarium, it is also a nice venue to explore.
Once you purchase your ticket, board the ferry for the short trip out to Ft. Sumter. The ferry has two levels. The bottom level provides seating in an indoor cabin. Refreshments are available for purchase on board. Seating is also available on the upper deck outside. The upper deck allows better viewing of the harbor and surrounding area.. A guide offers historical information and interesting facts about Ft. Sumter, Ft. Moultrie, the Civil War and Charleston over a loudspeaker. Before boarding, visitors are given a pamphlet explaining the role of Ft. Sumter in the Civil War.
The ferry cruise takes about 25 minutes to reach Ft. Sumter. Passengers get a nice tour of the harbor as a bonus. We left from the Patriot’s Point location that docks right next to the USS Yorktown. The ferry must go around the USS Yorktown to access the ferry dock. Seeing the USS Yorktown from the vantage point of the ferry is quite impressive. The Charleston Harbor is always busy. On this day, some small sailboats nearby the USS Yorktown were practicing for a race that would occur the following week. There were about 20 of them bobbing through the water on this windy day. Other personal crafts were also taking advantage of a beautiful windy day. Cargo ships were also anchored nearby or moving into port.
Passengers could view the Battery and other Charleston attractions from the ferry. The ferry passed by Ft. Moutrie, which also played a role in the Civil War. Upon docking at Ft. Sumter, it was evident that the island itself was undergoing some construction to shore up one of the docking piers. Construction equipment and machines were placing huge boulders along the adjacent pier because it was in danger of sinking.
Visitors only had 90 minutes to tour the entire fort. Ninety minutes is not nearly enough to explore the fort and the museum. Basically, Fort Sumter is considered an archeological ruin. Placards were placed around the interior walls of the fort to explain the purpose of a particular area. Cannons were strategically placed around the perimeter all around the fort to demonstrate the vantage points of their protection back in the day.
A structure was built in the center of the backside of the fort which housed the museum and a gift shop.
Visitors could go up to a grassy area via some stairs to a grassy knoll to view the fort from the top.
The entrance to the gift shop and the museum are on top of the structure in the middle of the compound. The gift shop is very small, but you could find some Charleston and Ft. Sumter mementos there. The museum has a lot of interesting information and artifacts. The time allotted to tour the fort and the museum is not long enough to dive into a lot of the written information in the museum. I like to read all the placards in a museum, so I felt rushed but stayed until the very last possible moment.
Back on board the ferry boat, the trip back to the mainland was a lot quicker. We passed by a huge ship on the way back to the mainland that was anchored in the middle of the harbor. I had noticed it on the way to the fort and wondered what it was doing there. On the way back, I realized that the ship was carrying the huge boulders that the construction crew was using to shore up the pier at Ft. Sumter. I could see the giant rocks sitting on the top deck of the ship. I thought that was interesting.
The whole trip took about 2-1/2 hours round trip. Ft. Sumter is regarded as a tangible example of the struggle America has had to preserve and maintain freedom to and for its people.
