It’s always a challenge to find vacation activities that will please children and adults alike and won’t burn a hole in your pocket! A trip to Fort Caswell on Oak Island is sure to fit that bill! For only $3 per person, you can spend hours touring the grounds of Fort Caswell. If you’re a history buff…..the Fort Caswell/Southport area is rich in Carolina history!
Fort Caswell, is located at the tip of Caswell Beach at the mouth of the Cape Fear River to the south is the Atlantic Ocean and to the north is the Elizabeth River. Considered one of the strongest forts in the world when it was built in 1825, Fort Caswell originally covered 2,800 acres at the eastern end of Oak Island. It was the first thing constructed on Oak Island and its inhabitants were some of the first people to permanently settle on the island when it was still connected to the mainland by marshlands. Fort Caswell was built simply because Southport and Bald Head Island were havens for notorious pirates, including Blackbeard. Considering that this river highway stretched all the way to Fayetteville and ships were being pirated, Congress authorized the construction of a fort in 1825 to strengthen the area’s defenses.
The original fort was built at a cost of $473,402 and was fortified with both brick walls and large earthworks in a pentagonal design. Fortified with over 61 gun emplacements, it guarded the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and was a key in the defense of Wilmington an important port 50 miles upriver and, at the time, the state's largest city. When the issue of secession was debated in 1861, it was seized twice by a group called the "Cape Fear Minutemen", who were subsequently ordered by the NC Governor to return it to the keeper of the fort, the only man stationed there by the US Army at the time.
Fort Caswell was such a formidable adversary for the Union, that it saw very little action during the Civil War. During the Civil War no soldier lost his life at Fort Caswell due to combat. Many soldiers did die however, from yellow fever, small pox, and other diseases. This is amazing since Fort Caswell changed hands between Union and Confederate forces four times during the war! When the supply lines were cut off to Fort Caswell after Fort Fisher fell to Union forces in January 1865 the Fort Caswell soldiers had to abandon their fortifications. However, before they did so they ignited the powder magazine with all the gun powder they had left and heavily damaged the fort, the citadel, and the surrounding earth mound fortifications.
On January 31, 1946 Fort Caswell was designated as a war surplus and assigned for disposal. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina purchased the 250-acre fort from the government on September 1949 for 86,000. The remains of the citadel are still intact and are preserved by the Baptist Assembly of North Carolina, The N.C. Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell is a religious retreat and conference center and is opened year round, with the exception of Christmas through New Year's Day.
To access the fort, drive down Caswell Beach Rd, past Oak Island Lighthouse, and continue until you reach the guardhouse at the entrance to the Baptist Assembly and Fort Caswell. Only a limited number of guests are allowed on the property at any one time. You may have to wait at the guardhouse for a very short while….but it will be well worth your wait! Once you are allowed in, you can either simply drive through the property (without leaving your car) or if you want to tour the area by car and foot, you’ll be asked to check in at the office where you’ll pay a $3 fee and receive a guest pass for as long as you’d like to tour the property. There is also a very nice gift shop in the office building. Accommodations are also available for extended stays. Please visit the Ft Caswell website for more details.
We would strongly encourage you to walk throughout the property. Your kids will love wandering through the maze of hallways and rooms inside the fort, many of them hidden away under the earthen embankments. You can walk the shoreline facing out into the Atlantic on one side….watch barges, super tankers and freighters coming into the mouth of the Cape Fear on their way up to the state port or make your way to the inland side of the island for great views of the Intracoastal Waterway and Southport, NC.
If you haven’t had enough history yet and you have time….a ferry trip across the Cape Fear will bring you to Caswell’s partner of defense, Ft Fisher, not to mention the spectacular NC Aquarium at Ft Fisher. Click on the picture below for a slide show of some of the sights of Fort Caswell.
