The maps are linked to the web page or pages of the forts, as well as any pictures I have, just click near the fort of intrest. My pictures will show a bias towards the brick and masonry forts, mostly of the 3rd system but I'll try and include everything from the reconstruction of Ft. Caroline (1564) to Post WWII installations.

A New test map

Thetford, Stonehenge and Portsmouth

[01-Jan-2009] Yesterday was kind of an off day. Didnt go anywhere, just walked around the local town of Thetford. It goes back to the Iron Age, has connections to the Iceni tribe (Boudicca's tribe), was raided by the vikings, had a Norman castle and was the birthplace of Thomas Paine. New Years day was a lot of driving, first to Stonehenge then Portsmouth. Stonehenge itself was better than expected, its in the middle of an empty plain on the hill and the fence is outside the area you can walk in. You still cant touch it but at least it wasnt closed off like I thought it would be. Portsmouth was a lot of time wasted, we got there to late and took to long to eat. Only got to see one of the three ships the HMS Victory. Forgot to take the geocache coords so didnt look for them despite being at the Round and Square towers.

New York Week 2: Repeat Visits

[16-Oct-2007] Saturday was the last day to do anything since my flight was early Sunday morning. Got up and took the Staten Island ferry back to Ft. Wadsworth hoping to get the 10:30 tour of Ft. Thompkins. Got there at 9:30. The visitor center was closed. Hung around till 10:20 when Gary, the you cant do that and doesnt know his history Ranger showed up. Asked him if there was a tour. He said he didnt know, and he guessed no since the VC was closed. My experiences at Ft. Wadsworth makes it the worst National Park I have ever visited. The Rangers tell visitors conflicting information about tours, one guy says show up, Gary says no you must have reservations, despite calling earlier and being told nothing about reservations. Tour lack any historical information. The rangers being more concerned with repeatedly telling you how unsafe the stairs and ledges are. The rangers also dont even know the basics of the structure under their care. I specificly asked Gary the name of a battery as we walked by it. He told me it doesnt have a name, its just for 3inch guns. The big sign out side the visitor center, and all the CDSG pages say it was Battery Bacon. Fort Thompkins wins the award for the most obscured fort Ive every tried to see. It is surrounded by an impenatrable mass of brush from all angles except the sea face along the road. The grass is mowed very nicely up to the brush so its clearly on purpose. The rangers are unhelpful. Never offering me a map and only pointing me in the direction of the fort when I asked directly what was the best way to get to them. So I left Wadsworth, took the Ferry back to Manhatten and tried again for the geocache in central park I couldnt find because of darkness. Daylight didnt help. There is no plaque. Returned to the AMNH for the planetarium show and mythic creatures exhibit. The planetarium how was dissapointingly short. The prices are crazy and the ticket agent jipped me. The $15 to get in is fine, you see a lot of stuff. Then there are the special exhibits (about 6), Imax, and planetarium. Each costs extra. There is a supersaver which online says it allows you into unlimited of the special stuff, but the ticket person said only 2. The signs inside the museum are unclear so I didnt argue at the time. Most the pictures will be added to previous sections since there arnt enough to matter.

New York Week 2: Ft. Wadsworth

[08-Oct-2007] Got a late start Sunday because I worked till 2am. Took the Staten Island Ferry ot to Ft. Wadsworth to see Ft. Thompkins and Battery Weed. Again I had problems getting in. Apparently there was a special tour and one Ranger said show up, the other tired to turn everyone away who didnt have reservations. In the end everyone went. The tour was of just Ft. Richmond which is now called Battery Weed. The tour was pretty lacking. Most of it was the rangers being overly paranoid about safety. They really didnt do any intrepreation, and one Ranger was clearly wrong. I asked the name of one of the later batteries, and he said it was unnamed. The maps at the Visitor Center clearly call it Battery Bacon. Ft. Thompkins is almost invisible. They have done a wonderful job of completely obscuring the fort from almost every angle. Only part of the dry moat wall and counterscarp are visible as well as the sea face. Access to both forts is only when on a tour. Mornings for Ft. Thompkins, which I missed and afternoons for Battery Weed.

New York Week 1: Ft. Hamilton and AMNH

[08-Oct-2007] Saturday rode the subway way out to the Narrows to Ft. Hamilton. After some hassle at the gate where the Army thought the museum was closed, and the sleeping cop didnt help I got in after calling and confirming they were open. Then the didnt even bother to metal detect me. There isnt much left of the fort, the entire sea face has been removed. Only the land face and capponier. The museum is relativly new and takes up the whole small capponier. Came back to Manhatten and after stopping at work went to the American Museum of Natrual History. Didnt see it all, mostly just saw the dinosaurs. I will have to go back for all the special exhibits and several floors.

New York Week 1: Trip to the Statue

[08-Oct-2007] Started early Sunday with a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Had to walk down to Battery Park, its about 6 blocks from the apartment, to catch the ferry at Castle Clinton. The ferry gives some good views of Castle Williams. The Statue is built on top of Ft. Wood. and parts of Ellis Island on Ft. Gibson which is mostly buried. The Staute was pretty small in person, it seems much larger from a distance. Of course you can only go up to the top of the pedestal because of stupid security. Ellis Island was kind of disappointing. Only the main building has been restored, the rest are closed. Most the exhibits were pretty uninteresting. I didnt know about Ft. Gibson so that was a nice find, even better when I went outside and found remains uncovered.

I have returned
[21-Aug-2007] I am back here for almost 2 weeks before dragoncon. Got to go walk to Battery Park and Castle Clinton before I left New York.

Advanced Redoubt

[25-Apr-2007] Finally put up the pictures from the Advanced Redoubt of Ft. Barancas I took on the way back from the MS trip last month. Ive tried several times to get on the tour and usually miss it by an hour. I stopped by there knowing the only do them on Sat at 11 and got lucky. The volunteer ranger was giving a special tour for a guy leaving the country and I got there just as they started. Also added flowers from the trip back

Tampa Trip

[27-Jul-2006] Had to go to Tampa last weekend for a company fishing trip. The first couple of hours we got nothing. Once we moved further north it picked up. We caught about 15 makrel, 3 of which I got. Sunday I went to Ft. Desoto and took the ferry to Ft. Dade. Ft. Dade is in bad shape. The batteries are falling apart and being destroyed or buried by the sea. The island is hot, no shade at all and little breeze on parts of it. There is a lighthouse still in operation on the island along with the remains of the town that once supported the batteries. I ment to do several geocaches on the island but forgot the coordinate sheets in the car but the island was too hot and I wouldnt have done them anyway. The trip back took much longer than should have since we saw some dolphins and made a detour to take pictures. The detour also gave me the chance to take the offshore photos of batteries Laidley and Bigelow.

A record number of caches and Ft. De Soto

[29-Apr-2005] The last part of the drive from Palm Harbor to Sanibel was mainly stopping at geocaches. I did 6 in one day which I think is my record. First one was Old Fort. Which has nothing to do with a real fort. Missed the ferry to Ft. Dade because of the first cache but did get to revisit Ft. Desoto. I thought I remembered there being more than one battery here and Im sure Ive never been to Ft. Dade so it may just be that it was too long ago. There were 3 caches within half a mile of the fort, and after some confusion because I duplicated the coordinates on one I found them all. Continued on to the do virtual cache in downtown Ft. Myers The Attack on Ft. Myers, couldnt do the museum since it was closing. Came onto Sanibel island, and apparently Drew and Heather saw me at the iontersection, then I went away from the hotel for the cache out at the lighthouse so they called. Did the cache and the one at the chapel before meeting them at the hotel. Caches Old Fort Fort De Soto Mullet Key Cache A Fisherman's Rescue The Attack on Fort Myers Seekin the Beakin Near The Chapel

Flooded Ft. Pickens
[20-Sep-2004] Added some pictures by Bryan Adams showing the flooding Hurricane Ivan did to Ft. Pickens and its batteries.

Key West Forts
[01-Jan-2004] Put up more pictures of Ft. Taylor, also the East and West Martello towers.

Lots of Photos
[01-Jan-2004] Photos from Fort Jefferson, and Fort Taylor. The 2 lighthouses in the Dry Tortugas. Fish and Scenery in the Dry Tortugas Photos my sister and mom took of Ft. Point, by accident when taking pictures of silly things like the Golden Gate Bridge. A submarine in the Key West harbour. Photos by both me and my sister of Christmas Tomarrow: the Martello Towers.

Live From Mississippi

[15-Nov-2003] I'm in Pascagula. Here to listen to John Weaver give a talk tomarrow in Ocean Springs. He wrote one of the definitve books on 3rd system forts (the red brick ones for thos eof you who dont read those books). He had asked me if I had any images or info on McReee to help his new book so I found out about this talk. Stopped on the way at the USS Alabama and Ft. Gaines. I'd been to both before but never managed to get inside either. Going to see Master and Commander now, which the dumb small town theater here calls Master of Commander.

Trip Photos
[11-Feb-2003] Put up the photos for Ft. Barrancas, Advanced Redoubt, and the Air Force Armament Museum from this weekend.

Ft. Barrancas

[09-Feb-2003] Got up early Saturday and decided to go to Ft. Barrancas and the Advanced Redoubt in Pensacola. I was hoping to catch the 11:00 tour of the Redoubt since thats the only way to get inside but I missed it by 20min. Spent several hours at the two anyway, and then went over to the Naval Aviation museum (no pictures). Stopped at Aunt Lelia's house on the way back. Nikki and Kyle brought Sean over. I was intending to eat dinner see everyone and drive home but ended up spending several hours on their computer tring to get Ashley's digital camrea to work right and stayed over night. Sunday I planned on driving back to Tallahassee on 20 doing geocaches (see the other entry). Stopped at the Air Force Armament Museum before the first of the 2 caches. It rained almost the whole way back so I skipped the 2 caches near Torreya. Got back about 5:00. Pictures up soon.