Fort Monroe National Monument

Love this free national monument! Start at the Casemate museum to get a map to take your own tour or sign up for a guided tour. It was a really hot humid day so we drove around and stopped at several buildings and explored a little bit. Very cool for the whole family!

I have visited the Fort Monroe ground before and found it to be interesting if you take your time and make a leisure stroll around the perimeter. A lot of old grave markers on the top of the hills ranging from people to pets. Great scenic pictures to be taken from up there too.

Today was a beach day. We always go to the fishing pier to see if there were any lucky fishermen. None today. We headed to the beach to swim and play. Two lifeguards manning two waterholes, no crowd, clean beaches and even the water was the right temperature. What little that washes up will not provide you with a suitable she’ll souvenirs to give away but it makes for more comfortable strolls along the water. This is one of our best kept secrets and I enjoy coming here over the crowded beaches and ones that every other step is litter of some kind. No nearby stores so pack before you come or stop at the store on the way. Good old port-​a-​johns around the corner!

Took a side trip to Fort Monroe while visiting Norfolk. Its not marked very well and we just kind of stumbled onto the Casemate Museum, which you really have to find to get a map for the walking tour. Make sure to cross the bridge over moat directly into the Fort area to find the Museum. The museum is very interesting showing where Jefferson Davis was kept prisoner. When you start the walking tour, unless your young and fit, take your car. Even following the map its not easy to follow and most things are stumbled upon. We were lucky enough to find a few things not on the map. On the outside of the Fort there appears to be some beautiful beaches with lifeguards on duty. I think it would be great for kids to be on the beach when a Navy destroyer goes by, as it did today. The Fort isn’t a must see and I think kids would get bored. History buffs will be in heaven.

Really neat area that’s easy to get to (other than traffic) from either side of the Hampton Roads Bridge and Tunnel — it’s the first exit north of the bridge.
A surprisingly interesting area with lots of places for walking, for picnics, for beaching, for ballfields and for fishing.
And so much history to be seen as well!

Fort Monroe was designed by the French military engineer Brigadier General Simon Bernard, Fort Monroe was conceived as an element of the Third System of coastal defenses outlined by Congress in the aftermath of the War of 1812.
Completed in 1834 and named in honor of President James Monroe, Fort Monroe is recognized as the largest stone fort ever built in the United States.
Nicknamed «Freedom’s Fortress,» this Union-​held fortification provided a safe haven for hundreds of runaway slaves during the Civil War. It was also the site where the Army of the Potomac landed before beginning the march toward Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign.
Fort Monroe’s history is interpreted for visitors in its Casemate Museum. Walking tours of the fort are available during the summer months. Fort Monroe became a part of the National Park System on November 1, 2011, after more than 150 years as an active army post.
It has been so long since we were there in December of ”13 that I don’t remember details but generally speaking:
The place itself is huge.
The Casemate Museum is equally large and takes quite some time to do it justice.
For some reason we got lost trying to find the Casemate as of GPS insisted that its address did not exist.
If you want you can now live at Fort Monroe as part of it’s redevelopment.
This place did not have daily ranger coverage yet per the girl in the gift shop.
The Casemate got quite a few visitors but the rest of the fort was mostly deserted in terms of walkers, visitors or people just wanting to look around in general.
The Junior Ranger Program book for kids was actually quite difficult because the Casemate is so big and spread out things took forever to find. When done, don’t look for a ranger just take it to the gift shop and the staff there was in charge of checking it/​handing out the badge.