Castle

Fort Pulaski National Monument

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This Civil War era fort still shows the pockmarked scars from Union artillery. A later famous Lt Robert E Lee helped design the tidal sluice gates and canal for the moat which circumscribes the fort, and he had assured the commander that the walls would hold. And it did hold for 112 days against a Union siege in April of 1862. But despite the impressive moat, drawbridges, masonry, and reinforced internal structures, the invention of rifled artillery made the fort obsolete, as this test of the experimental weapons demonstrated. The wall on the left end had to be rebuilt after the spinning explosive shells opened huge gaps. After 30 hours bombardment, the fort surrendered and the port of Savannah was blocked by the Union’s anaconda. Otherwise, the fort is in good condition, with good views from the tops of the walls, and walking around the inside makes for an interesting visit.

Hovenweep National Monument

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Hovenweep Castle to the right and the Square Tower in the middle were likely part of a connected, multi-story pueblo, part of a complex of buildings surrounding this small canyon. 750 years ago, the farmers who built and lived in this castle grew corn, beans, squash, amaranth and probably cotton. They kept domesticated turkeys in the canyon and built small dams to control flash floods and enrich soil. The 2 mile round trip Little Ruin Trail is easy to follow to photograph the varied ruins from different angles.

Maybe if I had come out west here before visiting Europe, I would not have told my host family that we don’t have any old stone castles in America. This is an extremely photogenic place, and I was happy to walk the loop in the morning, before others arrived. The drive through the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (managed by the Bureau of Land Management) and on ‘reservation roads’ is worth doing slowly.