Fort Delaware State Park Binoculars - Delaware City, DE
Posted by: 
94RedRover
N 39° 34.795 W 075° 35.221
18S E 449586 N 4381298
At the end of Clinton Street, in the Battery Park along the Delware River, these coin operated binoculars gives visitors a look at Fort Delaware, sitting on Pea Patch Island just a mile into the river.
Waymark Code: WM6PEK
Location: Delaware, United States
Date Posted: 07/01/2009
Views: 3
Pea Patch Island, as it was known to the locals, was a private hunting ground for Dr. Henry Gale. In 1794, the French military engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant surveyed the island as an ideal location for a river defense fort. The US military offered Gale $30,000 for the island, but Gale refused. The military then appealed to the Delaware State Legislature, and the island was seized from Dr. Gale on May 27, 1813.
Construction began in 1817, but a fire destroyed the original structure. By 1833, the original structure was torn down, and the fort that stands today began construction between 1848 and 1859. At the time, it was the largest fort in the United States. The fort is surrounded by a deep moat, with revolving cannons on all sides.
In 1862, during the Civil War, the island was used as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war. Originally, the fort was designed to hold 2,000 prisoners, but by 1863, the number had surged to over 10,000. Wooden barracks were built on the parade grounds to house the prisoners, 212 men to each, and 54 barracks. Some 2,900 prisoners died at Fort Delaware as a result of disease.
The State of Delaware acquired the fort in 1947 and opened Fort Delaware State Park. Access to the island is by ferry only, leaving from Delaware City in Delaware or Fort Mott in New Jersey.
Cost to Operate: $0.25
Primary Vista: Pea Patch Island and Fort Delaware
Number of devices at the site: 1
Other Vistas at the location:
Delaware River
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