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Sunday 9 December 2012

The forts of New York: Fort Wood (Liberty Island)

It is not often realised that the base of the Statue of Liberty is an eleven-pointed star fort, although this is very apparent when the island is seen from above.



Construction of the fort on what was then called Bedloe's Island (it was not officially renamed Liberty Island until 1956!) began in 1806 and was completed in 1811. The fort was constructed from granite ...


... and named Fort Wood in honour of Lieutenant Colonel Eleazer Derby Wood, who was killed in action during the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

After the War of 1812 the fortress fell into disuse and after 1823 it main function was to act as a recruiting station during the American Civil War.

6 comments:

  1. Interesting - how does one activate Robo-Liberty to fight off Godzilla, etc?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ghostbusters covered that rather accurately I feel.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Conrad Kinch,

    I thought that the Statue was actually a Stone Angel?

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. SAROE,

    So they did! I had forgotten that.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. Replies
    1. The Black Adder,

      It took me a second or two to recognise the DR WHO reference ... but when I did, I laughed out loud!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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