"Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't it:" The Southern North Carolina Coast: Part II | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Just south on US Hwy. 421 to Fort Fisher State Recreation Area is Kure Beach. It is a family Beach, with lovely, wide amount of sand leading down to the sea: Above. Click on the map for an expanded view of New Hanover County: Below.
    Further south in the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, there are untold quantities of tons of large granite boulders holding the seaside shoreline in place. It also makes for a semi-secluded location for sunbathers: Above and below.

    Just to the west of the Fort Fisher beach, on the west side of these sea-air-dwarfed-live-oaks is what is left of the earthen fort - Fort Fisher: Above. Click on the Fort Fisher map for an expanded view of the fort and the State Recreation Area: Below.

    These berms are actually the northern wall of the former earthen fort, known as Shepherd's Battery, that have been ravaged by time and erosion: Above. The rear of this redoubt allowed entry to the interior of the earthen mound and the battery that rest on the zenith of the battlement: Below.

    Looking northwest along the boardwalk toward the savanna of salt marsh that edges the Cape Fear River: Above. It's home below the mounds of spoils separating young confederate defenders of the Cape Fear from cannon shot and musket balls: Below.

    A big cannon on a circular pivot on the battlement of the north wall of Fort Fisher insured that the defenders of the Cape Fear had 360 degrees range of fire: Above. Looking south into the Summer sun down the Cape Fear River, where this large cannon would have found an easy target if, per chance, the Union Navy considered entering up the river that led to the port of Wilmington, North Carolina: Below.

    A view of the north wall of Fort Fisher from the north: Above. The monument of the confederate soldiers, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their cause. The monument, known as Battle Acre, is on the Atlantic Ocean side of the State Recreation Area: Below.


To be continued....