Rain Again!

What to do on yet another dreary, chilly, cloudy, rainy day?  I opt for a cheerful, colorful jigsaw puzzle.  

I enjoyed visiting my previous birds and flowers

and butterflies so much that I started another one.

As with the previous two, this one is also a bit too big for my table.  I need either a bigger table or smaller puzzles!

Hopefully we're in for only sunny days until we leave.

Louise and Duane

Fort Facts

The original fortification on Mobile Point, a fan-shaped 8 gun battery, was built in 1780 by Spanish forces.  In 1813 the U.S. Army built a small earth and log fortification--Fort Bowyer.

In 1819 Construction began on a new pentagonal fort to replace Fort Bowyer.  Because of its isolation on Mobile Point, it took 15 years to complete.  The U.S. Government leased slaves from the slave owners in the region.  Over 200 slaves labored to manufacture over mortar and 30,000,000 bricks.  Soon after Fort Morgan was finished and occupied, the government found  structural problems and much needed modifications.  After another year the fort was completed at a cost of $1,026,777.41, making it the third most expensive fort in the Third System Fortifications.

In 1837, 3500 Muscogee natives were housed in the fort after their forced removal from their ancestral Alabama lands and while they awaited their transport to Arkansas.

The fort was seized by the the CSA  during the Civil War.  After the war the fort was vacated and placed in caretaker status. 

 After 30 years, in 1898, the six modern concrete batteries were placed into service just before the Spanish American War.  This began the fort's longest continuous period of military occupation, the Coast Artillery era, which lasted until the post's initial closing in 1923.  

Fort Morgan next served as an artillery training base for WWI with 2000 troops on post, before it was once again deactivated.  It remained in caretaker status for 3 years before it was finally abandoned for 10 years.

From 1934-1937 the fort had again gained attention.  This time 500 men were put to work by the Works Projects Administration  during the Great Depression.  The men restored the brick and grounds surrounding the area.

The last time the fort was used for military operations was from 1941-1944.  The U.S. Army, Navy, and Coast Guard operated the post as an ordnance depot and guarded against German U-boats in the Gulf.  In 1946 Fort Morgan was turned over to the State of Alabama as an historic site.

That's it for the history lesson.

Louise and Duane

More Fort

On the grounds of Alabama's Fort Morgan State Historic Site we first visited the small museum where we learned the role the fort played in four US wars--the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and World War I. 

We wandered around the outside of the fort proper, and climbed to the top of one of the outside batteries or big gun (cannon) sites overlooking Mobile Bay which was salted with mines during the Civil War.

If these guns failed to stop the enemy, soldiers retreated to the forts itself under the glacis or built up ground into the postern tunnl which had fortified doors at each end.

Inside the postern tunnel is a dry moat which allowed troops to move around the fort during an attack.  The next stopgap was the sally port, or main entrance to the fort, another tunnel also with fortified doors at each end.

Each of the fort's ten casemates contained 2 24 pounder flank howitzers.  They were designed as bombproof in case of an enemy siege.  Later they served as storage for suppplies as well as temporary housing for large garrisons.  Two powder magazines  holding up to 6000 pounds of black powder were fitted between the casemates.  

  

This one was fitted out as a laundry.  

At the top we had a good view of the parade ground.  At one time the last desperate fort defense was located here between those white circles which were water cisterns.  Called the Citidel, it was a 10-sided wood and brick structure about the size of the museum (above), and was a defensive barracks that housed 400 soldiers.  During the Civil War a Union bombardment set the timber roof afire and forced the  Confederate soldiers to dump 60,000 pounds of cannon powder into the cisterns to keep it from exploding.  Later, with their last bolthole destroyed  the Confederates were forced to abandon the fort to the Union army.

(I shook my head at that one--the last stronghold with 60,000 pounds of black powder guarded by a timber roof.  What were they thinking?)

Around the top of the fort were 6 batteries, or gun mounts which protected Mobile bay with big guns (cannons) built at various times, and designed with various purposes.  One could shoot a 1046 pound shell up to 8 1/2 miles.    One, built where the Mobile Point Lighthouse once stood, had a "hot shot" furnace that heated the balls to extreme temperatures to penetrate wooden hulls of ships.  Two held rapid-fire guns that protected the defensive mine field in the bay.  The one pictured below was one of two  built on a circular mount allowed fire on a wider area. It is the only battery remaining within the fort. 

In two corners of the fort were these staircases (one of which can be seen on the wall in the picture with the parade ground above).  The incline on them was very steep and the steps themselves were 14" deep.  I found no information about them.  I surmise that they were original staircases used as another defensive measure since they were very difficult to negotiate.

After our history lessons, we enjoyed a wide view of Mobile Bay from the top walls of the fort.  Across the bay, where once, deadly mines filled the shipping lanes, we couldn't see Mobile on the right, but could see the top of the bridge (in the distance on the right) that provides access to Dauphin Island (on the left),

and were treated to the sight of two pelicans passing peacefully by.

Details tomorrow,

Louise and Duane

Long Time

Although Duane rode the bike on a couple of short rides in Florida, it's been months since we've taken a long ride.  It's also been months since we played tourist.  We remedied that today.  Although the breeze from the north still has an arctic feel to it, the sun was warm and the sky perfectly blue and we had to get out and get going again.  

The ride was short--only 80 miles round trip.  From Foley, AL we went straight south on AL 59 to Gulf Shores,

across the intracoastal waterway

and hung a right to drive 22 miles west along the Gulf Coast

to visit historic Fort Morgan.

Outside the museum we received a quick history lesson about the area

finding that it was once claimed by France, Britain, and Spain 

before being won by the US.

during the War of 1812.

More fort next time.

Louise and Duane

Yucky Day

Cold rain all day rated a return to happy stuff like sunshine and yard art.

These are wood carvings--two bear cubs, a moose, an eagle, and a howling wolf welcome visitors.

Nice patio tables hold these "driveway" lights.

ready to plow the front yard, if need be

This nice bench might come in handy on a hot day.

spring flowers in the middle of winter

an assortment of critters--a heron, a couple of small elephants the size of the rabbits and a couple of bush birds

One way to get sunshine on a rainy day!

Louise and Duane

'Bama Gulf Coast Grocery Shopping

At the Foley store today we found

lots of fresh seafood, of course,

turkey neck bone  (beef and pork too!),

pork fat for seasoning,

for your butter beans,

plenty of lard

to deep fry your tater bucks (tots)

and okra,

and a wide choice of grits

Who's ready for dinner?

Louise and Duane

Yard Art

Dachshund  planter 

bears

saint statue on a stump apparently guarding the outhouse   

The sign says basement for rent.

blue bottle tree

These people went all out with  Dachshund silhouettes, a flower, bunnies, a pelican, a nutcracker, and 

across the driveway  a couple of frogs and a tiny gnome.

That's just the half of it!

Louise and Duane