Fort Macon State Park, Atlantic Beach, N.C.

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Fort Macon State Park

Fort Macon, like many parks, offers more than its namesake, which in this case is a historic stone fort. The 424-acre site also has a large beach on Beaufort Inlet that is popular for fishing and kite flying, and a protected swimming area farther up the beach, which is open seasonally.

A Historic Casement Fort

But, the five-sided brick-and-stone fortress is the real reason to make the trip. In addition to guided tours or touring on their own, visitors can catch frequent programs that include living history weekends with musket drills, artillery demonstrations, skirmish scenarios, and other historical talks and demonstrations.

The courtyard, the moat between the interior and outer walls, the tops of the walls, and several of the fort’s 26 arched rooms, or casements, provide plenty of places to explore and enjoy the simple, utilitarian 19th century military architecture.

Fort Macon was first garrisoned in 1834 to guard Beaufort Inlet and Beaufort Harbor, which was North Carolina’s only major deepwater ocean port. The Confederates seized it from Union forces at the beginning of the Civil War, and the Union took it back in 1862 as North Carolina’s coastal defenses fell apart. It was a federal prison from 1867 to 1876, garrisoned during the Spanish-American War and closed in 1903.

The state bought Fort Macon in 1923 and made it the second state park (Mount Mitchell was the first). It was restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1934-35, and garrisoned for the last time for three years during World War II.

Two enlarged photos in the visitor center – the one below from the 1950s – show Fort Macon before it was fully restored.

Several cannons and mortars are posted in the courtyard and on the walls of the fort. The cannon on the wall is a replica Model 1841 Navy 32 pounder, which means it fired a 32-pound cannonball.

Empty mounts show where additional cannons were positioned.

The cannon in the courtyard is an 1841 six-pounder field cannon.

Here are two mortars in the courtyard at Fort Macon.

Exhibits in separate casements show the coastal system of forts during the Civil War, life as a Confederate soldier at Fort Macon and how things looked there during World War II.

A Civil War-era mess hall is replicated in another casement.

Fort Macon Visitor Center

The park opened a 22,547-square-foot coastal education and visitor center in October 2009. When we visited, a day before its formal dedication, it was open but not yet completed.

The visitor center, which is connected to the fort by a short brick-and stone sidewalk, has a gift shop, auditorium and conference rooms. It was designed with five sides and arches, like the fort, and is LEED-certified.