A Day at Fort Morgan

Since we're going home soon, we decided to do a bit of sightseeing yesterday. We went to historic Fort Morgan, one of the guardians of Mobile Bay.  This fort was built in the early 1800's, I believe, and saw action in the War of 1812 as well as in the Civil War.  It was kept in use until just after WWII and now is a national historical site as well as a state park.

This is a view of Mobile Bay as seen from the fort. That's Dauphin Island in the distance where the other guardian, Fort Gaines, is located. We plan on visiting there next week.

 This is a shot of the inside of the fort. This fort is a hexagon, I think, and the ground surrounding it is built up so the soldiers inside would be able to fire down on attackers. Between the hillside (called the Glacis) and the fort there's a dry moat or ditch, to give further advantage to the defenders in case the attackers managed to come over the glacis.  And inside the fort, there are many storage areas for ammunition and gun powder and there are the remains of numerous cannon mounts up on the top level of the building.  Some of the cannons were mounted on tracks so they could swivel about 180 degrees and could fire across a large area of the bay. There was a ten sided barracks or citadel inside the fort which is gone now except for a few foundation stones but I imagine it was quite a bustling place when it was an active fort.

I had to take this pic of a pair of pelicans resting on this abandoned pier.  Just waiting for a little lunch! In the background is one of the numerous gas rigs that dot the bay and the gulf where we're located.

So, Don and I had a very nice afternoon exploring a bit of American history. In the morning, we worked together to clean up the cottage before our friend Steve arrives this afternoon. We're going to Pensacola FL to pick him up at the airport and he'll stay for a few days of golfing before leaving on Monday.

I think Don's feeling a little guilty about all the golf he's been playing. I don't care how much he plays--he's earned the right to indulge in his passion and when he's out of the house, I can work on my quilting without any interruptions. I took a look at Bonnie Hunter's calendar to see if she's going to be teaching near me in the future--and she is!  In May she's going to be in central Illinois, so I emailed the guild contact person to see if there were any openings and, long story short, I've reserved a spot for myself!  I discussed it with Don and he didn't put up any objections at all!  Hey, if he's feeling guilty about doing all this golfing, I'll use that to my advantage. right?

So I'm very excited to be going there, and I'll be staying in the same hotel as Bonnie. How great is that!