Fort Norfolk (Norfolk, Virginia)

 military, place with historical importance, fortification, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, Federal style (architecture), American Civil War 1861-1865

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Fort Norfolk is the last of 19 harbor protection fortifications authorized in 1794.

The fort was designed for 30 heavy guns to be mounted en barbette on wooden platforms on the curved wall facing the harbor.

An archeological survey conducted in the 1990s before the large complex to the east was built confirmed that a large earthen and wood-faced ravelin was constructed on the eastern front of the fort walls during the War of 1812, probably to allow the larger wartime garrison to set up tents or store supplies in the protected space.

The fort was used as an arsenal by the Confederates, and powder and shells stored at the fort were used to outfit the ironclad CSS Virginia. After its capture by the Union in 1862, it was used as a prison for captured blockade runner crews.

The navy took over the fort in the post war years and used it as a naval magazine until it was turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1920s.

www.norfolkhistorical.org/fort/