Just now discovering this after looking at the area on Google Maps after the bridge collapse. It caught my eye and I wondered what it was. Very interesting.
Same here. I lived in Glen Burnie for several years and worked over in Salisbury for awhile. Taught my sons to sail in the bay too. I was of two minds about “saving the bay” and so also had a “pave the bay” bumper sticker for awhile, lol. Good times, pretty area. I love camping on the eastern shore side. There used to be a nice campground not far from the Key bridge.
Detroit also has a historical fort that is nearly abandoned. Its called historical Fort Wayne. It has a star shaped fortress and some other old barracks and a prison on site. Might be worth doing an episode on it if it hasnt been done already.
@@djquinn11 its in Delray by the new Gordie Howe bridge, another cool thing to check out over there. Theres a small boat launch park between Fort Wayne and the new bridge that is a great place to see the bridge. Just a heads up tho that whole area is under heavey construction due to the new bridge but you should be able to get around. Historical Fort Wayne also is still active and allows visitors for certain occasions such as ghost tours and i think things like civil war reenactments. Check it out its worth it!
Nice. I'm from Baltimore.. Does it resemble FT McHenry here near our inner harbor. They restored and fixed this one up. It's beautiful they have tours. Plus that's the place where FSK wrote the National Anthem...
I drove over the Key Bridge daily until the collapse (that still freaks me out). Always looked at this fort as I drove by. Someday I want to take a boat out there just to explore.
I’m from Baltimore and live in Baltimore. This is definitely news to find out about this historic place they don’t teach you in school. No thanks baltimore county public schools, much thanks to its history
@Shyyne713 that would be a product of the president bush Jr standardized public school testing, if the kids don't pass the test the school losses funding. They really only teach what is on the test, so they keep getting funding. It killed teachers doing any local history.
Also educated in MD in private school system, why would a history teacher use their time teaching about this fort when fuckin Fort McHenry is also right here. Guarantee you wouldn't even remember or give a damn about this fort if you were taught about it as a kid.
@@kenmathews4522 PG county has one of the highest rated public education systems in the country. Sorry bud, at best it's a Baltimore city/county "shortcoming."
I'm from Baltimore and I have driven over this fort on the Key bridge many times and it used to be one of my favorite fishing spots. I caught quite a few monster striped bass and catfish off our boat near the fort walls. Funny thing is I've never heard of Fort Carroll until now. I've spent almost my entire life (im 40) believing the was actually Fort Armistead because that's what i was told when i was a kid. In fact, my entire family believes this because that's what my grandfather told everyone. Apparently he was mistaken. No one ever had a reason to question it, my grandfather was a wise man after all. There is a Fort Armistead in Baltimore, but obviously this isn't it. Wow, my mind was blown! Just wait til my family finds out 😅 And my last name happens to be Carroll so this has even more significance to me than the average person. The Carroll name is very significant in Maryland and i discovered a few years ago that I'm a distant relative of Charles Carroll.
I used to launch my boat from Ft Armistead which is on the western shore directly across the river from Ft Carroll. I agree with you about the fishing near the fort and the shipping channels. Caught and released many species near there. Striped bass, bluefish, catfish, white perch, spot, croaker, small drum and flounder and even an occasional ray. Also plenty of blue crabs.
The Coastal Defense Study Group (CDSG) was organized for the study of all coastal defenses. I often look at US and foreign coastal defenses, especially their batteries, torpedo systems, and mine storage/laying/placement using Google Earth. Many ports still have defensive positions and related facilities. My grandmother during WW2 worked on the maintenance of anti-submarine nets for the approaches to New York harbor.
The early construction of Fort Pulaski near Savannah was supervised by Robert E. Lee shortly after his graduation from West Point. It was built on Cockspur Island, but needed wooden pilings driven into the muddy ground to support its heavy masonry walls. Like Fort Carroll, Pulaski was considered to be mostly impervious to any smoothbore canons that could be deployed against it. But the early 1860s saw the development of rifled guns that had the range, accuracy, and penetrating power to overwhelm and destroy the defenses of masonry forts. This was proved on April 10-11 1862 when Federal batteries on nearby Tybee Island silenced Pulaski's defending canons and blew a hole in its southeast corner. Fort Carroll would have almost certainly shared a similar fate had it ever been attacked after 1861. Carroll would house a few coastal artillery guns from 1900 to 1920, but these newer guns were made obsolete by the increased power of shipboard guns. My grandfather helped maintain and make improvements to the grounds of Fort Moultrie near Charleston when he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) before he was drafted in 1940 and stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. Moultrie started out a Revolutionary War fort and then was rebuilt as a brick fort after being destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. Similar to Carroll it also housed more modern coastal defense guns beginning in 1897. Fort Moultrie finally left service in 1947.
3:45)Fort McHenry was one half of the battle. Militia men stopped the limey army on the other side of the harbor. 4:57)Major General Benj. "Beast" Butler.
People often don’t recall that Baltimore was in a pincer and beat both ends of it. But CSA General Lee remembered that and sighted it as one of the reasons they were not going near Baltimore.
Glad to hear you mention Ft.Monroe;it was my father’s last duty station before he retired and also my birthplace. Singer/songwriter Steve Earle was also born there. Perhaps a video on Ft.Monroe?
I used to live on the water nearby and have been to the fort many times over the past 40 years or so. It's accessible only by boat so there are very few visitors. Currently it is a nesting site for sea birds such as great blue herons, pelicans, snowy egrets, and many more species. I don't think Fort Carroll can be disturbed given the wildlife that call the island home.
Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island is a similar fort to protect access to a city - in that case, Wilmington. It was turned over to the state of Delaware after WW2 and is now maintained as a tourist attraction by a group dedicated to its preservation.
I've been to Fort Delaware several times in fact I was there before it was turned into a tourist attraction. We used to pull up with our boat and walk around the fort and no one ever said anything to us.. I also went after it was turned over and the Ferry would take you over there . I loved all of the brickwork and about 75% of the masonry was done by slaves. The doors on the prison cells are made of 3 inch thick teak and Through the Years while it was abandoned a lot of people who lived in the area would go over and remove those doors in fact there is a residents that have them on their homes . There used to be a bar in Delaware City that the front door is made out of one of these prison cell doors . During the Civil War it was used as a pow prison and they would bury all the dead over in New Jersey and New Jersey did not want to take care of it so they made a deal Delaware actually runs across the river into New Jersey covering this grave site and that's why Delaware owns a piece of New Jersey . I could go on and on but I won't it's very interesting if you Google everything about it
Ryan, you should come to Washington State (Pacific Northwest) to check out the 20+ abbandoned Bunkers and Stations across our 400+ mile long coastline. Even here in Port Orchard that is just south of the USN Bremerton Shipyard, there are at least 3 unknown Military Bunkers that the "Common Folk" drive by every day.
There are so many old forts around the entrance to San Francisco Bay in California. The oldest from the Spanish and Mexican eras are near the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza and the newest are NIKE Missile bases. There is a old brick fort below the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge called Fort Point. It used the same blueprints as Fort Sumpter, where the Civil Ware really got started. There are disappearing canon artillery emplacements and World War Two tunnel forts. There are minefield case mates to detonate underwater controlled detonation mines. There are gigantic mortar pits. It is mostly in the Federal Golden Gate Recreation Area.
Ryan, your vid's are always enjoyable to watch after a long day at work -- thanks. Looks like a fun place to spend a day, I wonder how much the boat ride is???? Thank Ryan for your time, work and posting.....
I know this place. Never physically been to the island, but used to see it all the time whenever I drove over the (now former) Key Bridge. The island is located parallel to the bridge, so you could get a good look at it when you drove across it. Still can't believe the bridge is gone now! 😮
I grew up in Orchard Beach, MD on Stoney Creek. In the 1960s, we'd take our power boats out past the sand stones at the mouth, go out in the Patapsaco River and camp all night on Ft Carrol. Was a right of passage. Never saw any authorities anywhere. The piers were soaked in creasote and were in great condition.
I live here and looked at this every time I crossed the key bridge, we drove a boat to it a few times but the coast guard always told us to leave its off limits so we did but never knew what it was for, thanks for the video
I have been on Fort Carroll twice back in the 1970's it was pretty cool all the barracks for the soldiers were under ground and the prison was above ground. Although for the lack of a flashlight I couldn't go down the spiral stone stairs too far. It wasn't too overgrown then and all the tractors/mowers the city had there to maintain the fort were still there but looked like they hadn't been used in a long time. It was still pretty cool though.
i grew up close to fort carol , there is a rumor or urban legend that there are tunnels from fort carol to fort armistead , under the river ,, dont know if this is true ,when my brothers and i were kids we went in the tunnels of fort armistead and couldnt find anything that went that far , and its creepy as all hell , ..
Been out to Frt. Carroll many of times, back in the late 60's and early 70's. Grew up with a lot of good buddies. One of them owned a boat, and his mom owned a place on Bear Creek, in Dundalk Md. We'd pack a cooler full of beer, a few crab cake sandwiches, a few twisted jays, and out on the water way we'd go ! Frt. Carroll was on our way past open waters. We had friends that lived on the Magothy River, down on Gibson Island.
@@kylemoran4343Worked in the shipyd in the 80's ... had a co-worker w/ a waterfront house on Chink Creek, off Bear , across from SPCC ... used to run out to 7'Knoll when the Lthse was still there and pull wht.perch out of the rocks
Hahaha typical Baltimore. Wasting money on something that’s not even worth anything. Back then they were trying to defend Baltimore against the outside. Today Baltimore is crumbling from the inside ironic
Nancy Pelosi’s father and brother were both multi term mayors. Ever seen the HBO series, The Wire? It’s about Baltimore after the D’Alesandro family destroyed it. Why do you think Nancy went all the way to California?
I have an amusing vision of turning it into a museum to hex map wargames. This would be appropriate, as not only is the fort hexagonal, but Baltimore was the home of Avalon-Hill, a noted maker of such games.
Thanks for this video because I was always intrigued by this unique feature wherever I drover over the key bridge before collapse.Now I know what it is.
@@nomansland4811 Wait a second... are you saying that decades of leftist leadership have harmed the city they were supposed to help???? Yeah that tracks.
I wish my anxiety would've let me look out the window when i rode across the Key bridge omw to work in sparrows point. I've never looked out the window going across the Bay bridge either😢
In NYC we got many forts. One in front of everyone. It's called fort wood. People pass it everyday. Yet don't really care about fort wood. It's a amazing fort. It also has ghost tales. Like about Captain kidd. The Pirate. Who buried gold. Where is fort wood. Right on liberty Island. Today used by the statue of Liberty. As the base to hold up the statue of Liberty. People died there. Yet the fort was filled in. Look more about fort wood online.
What is today the Army Air Defense Artillery branch grew out of the Coastal Artillery. So today’s Patriot missile units trace their lineage to the men and organizations which manned these coastal forts.
When was Fort Armistead, Fort Smallwood, Fort Howard Built and was it at the same time period as Fort Carroll. Fort Armistead is on the west shore form Fort Carroll and Fort Smallwood and Fort Howard are across from each other at the mouth of the Patapsco River?
oh yeah i forgot about fort smallwood , its a great park , used to go there alot , the fort itself is a very small section left and its sealed up you cant get into it , never went to fort howard ..
It can be purchased, along with some of the lighthouses in the area. The problem is, currently the Coast Guard requires the owner to do nothing with the property; not live there or camp there; visit only with written permission; allow government usage whenever they wish. The most reasonable inference is that the incomplete nature and decay of the structure creates a safety issue. It's just a money hole. The Federal government doesn't really want traffic around the fort.
We used to go out there by boat in the late 70s. It was nothing but birds, rats, trees and vegetation. There was a peach tree on the island and the peaches were delicious
Baltimore has Fort McHenry to keep up and asking a poor city government to do more on privately owned land is asking to much. Asking them to keep it going after the US government abandoned it seems rude.
The wooden pylons this man made Island was built on have likely deteriorated into nothing so anybody trying to restore Fort Carroll may have a major construction project just stabilizing the ground the fort sits on.
"sometimes referred to as the birthplace of the National Anthem"... SOMETIMES??? As a Baltimorean, I've never heard anything deviating from that, what I call "fact".
I agree with the sentiment that Fort Carol needs to be saved however it is absolutely not in the right place because of the politics of that city to allow it to be restored.
I went out there it's so much bigger than it looks from land or driving over the bridge. We also got attacked by flies and fleas from all the birds that live out there.
I saw an interview of the current owners. The person's grandfather was the one that wanted to build the casino. Through out the interview the person sounded like more and more like a person that has a classic muscle care rusting away in their driveway. They want to one day see this and that happen to ft carroll but you could see it was never going to happen.
Ukraine and defending western interests is 100x more important than spending a BILLION to restore an old fort with no actual strategic or economic value. It’s a bird sanctuary, it can stay like that. Maryland itself had to rebuild the Key Bridge and that’ll take years, we can’t waste money restoring an old fort
It's actually for sale too. In 2004 it was assessed for $31,500, but im not sure what it would cost today.. But you can't do a damn thing with it because migratory birds use it and it's illegal to do anything to an area that migratory birds habit
I live 3 miles straight line distance from the fort. For many years now the fort has been used by nesting shore birds... shore birds that were driven from a nesting site on Sollers Point when the Key Bridge was built. The fort failed... we failed with the bridge... maybe we should learn how to have success by following nature's examples?
LOL - Dude. Baltimore was not vulnerable as a 'coastal city' (we are NOT a coastal city). It was tried and the Brits failed a the Battle of Baltimore where they tried to take Ft. McHenry and failed. We stood. No feds needed. Our militia got the job done. A guy wrote a poem about it that became a pretty popular song. The Brits went back down the Patapsco River to the Chesapeake Bay and landed the troops that burned DC into rural Virginia. We are a messed up city. We have a lot of problems. But one thing we do have in spades is resilience. Three armies from three different entities tried to take us and they all failed - the Brits, then the Confederacy, then the Union. We denied them all and stood independent and free. Want to do business? Need a ship full of horses, a consignment of tobacco, or a wagon full of shot for your muskets? Then come on down. Just leave your army at home.
@@jeremywilkerson7502 excellent comment. Well said Sir! The troubles Baltimore is known for today are nothing in comparison to the rich and deep history that made it famous 2 centuries ago
The discussion of Baltimore's concerns with harbor defense omitted the attack on Ft McHenry. That's a pretty big omission for a video purporting to be educational. Oh, say can you see?
Ive swam to n around this thing hundreds of times in the 90's. My uncle used to tell me there were wild dogs & animals out there. Which has the opposite effect lol. I rem going down in the tunnels. They used to go all the way through to fort armestead. On an unrelated note,we got cinimagraphic quality footage of the key bridge being knocked down....but NEVER told WHO filmed it perfectly?
Primary mission of the founding of US Military Academy? Combat engineering. West Point’s earliest graduates were tasked with creating coastal defenses, as well as forts and support/supply roads.
I'm surprised it still stands due to the fact of who was the architect of it all.. it's the same person who designed the water system for Baltimore, which still functions. They are re-doing that in my mind to take his name off of it all as they took down his statue as well. & you diddnt mention the tunnel from ft carrol to the main land..
There is a stars and stripes buoy just north of the Key bridge on the eastern side of the river. That's supposed to be the spot where the ship Francis Scott Key was observing the bombardment of Ft Mc Henry.
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Are you trying to fill it up with migrants or something?
Just now discovering this after looking at the area on Google Maps after the bridge collapse. It caught my eye and I wondered what it was. Very interesting.
As a teenager, we had so much fun on Fort Carol Island. We played paintball, hide and seek, we camped out there and fished all around the island.
Used to see this place when driving by on the Key Bridge all the time. Thanks for the history on it.
Same here. I lived in Glen Burnie for several years and worked over in Salisbury for awhile. Taught my sons to sail in the bay too. I was of two minds about “saving the bay” and so also had a “pave the bay” bumper sticker for awhile, lol.
Good times, pretty area. I love camping on the eastern shore side. There used to be a nice campground not far from the Key bridge.
They named one of the temporary channels after the Fort, during the Key Bridge clean up!
Detroit also has a historical fort that is nearly abandoned. Its called historical Fort Wayne. It has a star shaped fortress and some other old barracks and a prison on site. Might be worth doing an episode on it if it hasnt been done already.
I’m a native Detroiter and I’ve never been there. I need to plan a visit.
@@djquinn11 its in Delray by the new Gordie Howe bridge, another cool thing to check out over there. Theres a small boat launch park between Fort Wayne and the new bridge that is a great place to see the bridge. Just a heads up tho that whole area is under heavey construction due to the new bridge but you should be able to get around. Historical Fort Wayne also is still active and allows visitors for certain occasions such as ghost tours and i think things like civil war reenactments. Check it out its worth it!
Nice. I'm from Baltimore.. Does it resemble FT McHenry here near our inner harbor. They restored and fixed this one up. It's beautiful they have tours. Plus that's the place where FSK wrote the National Anthem...
@@kennyraynor3008 Ft. Carroll doesn't resemble Ft. McHenry at all, different styles from different eras.
I drove over the Key Bridge daily until the collapse (that still freaks me out). Always looked at this fort as I drove by. Someday I want to take a boat out there just to explore.
I've always wanted to check it out myself
I’m from Baltimore and live in Baltimore. This is definitely news to find out about this historic place they don’t teach you in school. No thanks baltimore county public schools, much thanks to its history
@Shyyne713 that would be a product of the president bush Jr standardized public school testing, if the kids don't pass the test the school losses funding. They really only teach what is on the test, so they keep getting funding. It killed teachers doing any local history.
Couldn’t agree more I’m born and raised in Bmore as well
I'm also a victim of MD public education system. P.G. co. Wasted youth.
Also educated in MD in private school system, why would a history teacher use their time teaching about this fort when fuckin Fort McHenry is also right here. Guarantee you wouldn't even remember or give a damn about this fort if you were taught about it as a kid.
@@kenmathews4522 PG county has one of the highest rated public education systems in the country. Sorry bud, at best it's a Baltimore city/county "shortcoming."
I appreciate that you are not AI. Nice work.
I'm from Baltimore and I have driven over this fort on the Key bridge many times and it used to be one of my favorite fishing spots. I caught quite a few monster striped bass and catfish off our boat near the fort walls.
Funny thing is I've never heard of Fort Carroll until now. I've spent almost my entire life (im 40) believing the was actually Fort Armistead because that's what i was told when i was a kid. In fact, my entire family believes this because that's what my grandfather told everyone. Apparently he was mistaken. No one ever had a reason to question it, my grandfather was a wise man after all. There is a Fort Armistead in Baltimore, but obviously this isn't it. Wow, my mind was blown! Just wait til my family finds out 😅 And my last name happens to be Carroll so this has even more significance to me than the average person. The Carroll name is very significant in Maryland and i discovered a few years ago that I'm a distant relative of Charles Carroll.
I used to launch my boat from Ft Armistead which is on the western shore directly across the river from Ft Carroll. I agree with you about the fishing near the fort and the shipping channels. Caught and released many species near there. Striped bass, bluefish, catfish, white perch, spot, croaker, small drum and flounder and even an occasional ray. Also plenty of blue crabs.
@@JimDog794 , Agreed........
Perhaps your grandpa was right and Baltimore is lying to you. I wouldn't put it past that crop of leaders!
Highest and best use, fishing spot.
Wouldn't eat fish from balto harbor unless you have a grudge agin yourself.
The Coastal Defense Study Group (CDSG) was organized for the study of all coastal defenses. I often look at US and foreign coastal defenses, especially their batteries, torpedo systems, and mine storage/laying/placement using Google Earth. Many ports still have defensive positions and related facilities. My grandmother during WW2 worked on the maintenance of anti-submarine nets for the approaches to New York harbor.
The early construction of Fort Pulaski near Savannah was supervised by Robert E. Lee shortly after his graduation from West Point. It was built on Cockspur Island, but needed wooden pilings driven into the muddy ground to support its heavy masonry walls. Like Fort Carroll, Pulaski was considered to be mostly impervious to any smoothbore canons that could be deployed against it.
But the early 1860s saw the development of rifled guns that had the range, accuracy, and penetrating power to overwhelm and destroy the defenses of masonry forts. This was proved on April 10-11 1862 when Federal batteries on nearby Tybee Island silenced Pulaski's defending canons and blew a hole in its southeast corner. Fort Carroll would have almost certainly shared a similar fate had it ever been attacked after 1861.
Carroll would house a few coastal artillery guns from 1900 to 1920, but these newer guns were made obsolete by the increased power of shipboard guns. My grandfather helped maintain and make improvements to the grounds of Fort Moultrie near Charleston when he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) before he was drafted in 1940 and stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. Moultrie started out a Revolutionary War fort and then was rebuilt as a brick fort after being destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. Similar to Carroll it also housed more modern coastal defense guns beginning in 1897. Fort Moultrie finally left service in 1947.
3:45)Fort McHenry was one half of the battle. Militia men stopped the limey army on the other side of the harbor.
4:57)Major General Benj. "Beast" Butler.
People often don’t recall that Baltimore was in a pincer and beat both ends of it. But CSA General Lee remembered that and sighted it as one of the reasons they were not going near Baltimore.
Naming star forts was like collecting stamps back in the 19th century, finders keepers was in full swing.
Glad to hear you mention Ft.Monroe;it was my father’s last duty station before he retired and also my birthplace. Singer/songwriter Steve Earle was also born there. Perhaps a video on Ft.Monroe?
Ft.Monroe.? Is that the one in Hampton
Yes it is.
In Tom Clancy's book " Wothout Remorse" this is where Snake stays and keeps his arsenal.
I used to live on the water nearby and have been to the fort many times over the past 40 years or so. It's accessible only by boat so there are very few visitors. Currently it is a nesting site for sea birds such as great blue herons, pelicans, snowy egrets, and many more species. I don't think Fort Carroll can be disturbed given the wildlife that call the island home.
Castle Pinckney is a small masonry fortification constructed by the United States government, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina in 1810.
Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island is a similar fort to protect access to a city - in that case, Wilmington. It was turned over to the state of Delaware after WW2 and is now maintained as a tourist attraction by a group dedicated to its preservation.
I've been to Fort Delaware several times in fact I was there before it was turned into a tourist attraction. We used to pull up with our boat and walk around the fort and no one ever said anything to us.. I also went after it was turned over and the Ferry would take you over there . I loved all of the brickwork and about 75% of the masonry was done by slaves. The doors on the prison cells are made of 3 inch thick teak and Through the Years while it was abandoned a lot of people who lived in the area would go over and remove those doors in fact there is a residents that have them on their homes . There used to be a bar in Delaware City that the front door is made out of one of these prison cell doors . During the Civil War it was used as a pow prison and they would bury all the dead over in New Jersey and New Jersey did not want to take care of it so they made a deal Delaware actually runs across the river into New Jersey covering this grave site and that's why Delaware owns a piece of New Jersey . I could go on and on but I won't it's very interesting if you Google everything about it
Ryan, you should come to Washington State (Pacific Northwest) to check out the 20+ abbandoned Bunkers and Stations across our 400+ mile long coastline.
Even here in Port Orchard that is just south of the USN Bremerton Shipyard, there are at least 3 unknown Military Bunkers that the "Common Folk" drive by every day.
There are so many old forts around the entrance to San Francisco Bay in California. The oldest from the Spanish and Mexican eras are near the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza and the newest are NIKE Missile bases.
There is a old brick fort below the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge called Fort Point. It used the same blueprints as Fort Sumpter, where the Civil Ware really got started.
There are disappearing canon artillery emplacements and World War Two tunnel forts.
There are minefield case mates to detonate underwater controlled detonation mines.
There are gigantic mortar pits.
It is mostly in the Federal Golden Gate Recreation Area.
Very interesting, thanks for the video 👍
Ryan, your vid's are always enjoyable to watch after a long day at work -- thanks. Looks like a fun place to spend a day, I wonder how much the boat ride is???? Thank Ryan for your time, work and posting.....
Drove over the Francis Scott Key Bridge and saw it yesterday. Didn't know anything about it. Thanks for the great video.
Maybe you could look at Fort Wool in VA Hampton roads area
That and Ft.Monroe would make for good videos.
I know this place. Never physically been to the island, but used to see it all the time whenever I drove over the (now former) Key Bridge. The island is located parallel to the bridge, so you could get a good look at it when you drove across it. Still can't believe the bridge is gone now! 😮
I grew up in Orchard Beach, MD on Stoney Creek. In the 1960s, we'd take our power boats out past the sand stones at the mouth, go out in the Patapsaco River and camp all night on Ft Carrol. Was a right of passage. Never saw any authorities anywhere. The piers were soaked in creasote and were in great condition.
The Dena!!
It’s amazing how often the adjective “captivating” is used in TH-cam videos.
I live here and looked at this every time I crossed the key bridge, we drove a boat to it a few times but the coast guard always told us to leave its off limits so we did but never knew what it was for, thanks for the video
Baltimore county needs to build a wall around itself to protect it from the city😮.
I have been on Fort Carroll twice back in the 1970's it was pretty cool all the barracks for the soldiers were under ground and the prison was above ground. Although for the lack of a flashlight I couldn't go down the spiral stone stairs too far. It wasn't too overgrown then and all the tractors/mowers the city had there to maintain the fort were still there but looked like they hadn't been used in a long time. It was still pretty cool though.
i grew up close to fort carol , there is a rumor or urban legend that there are tunnels from fort carol to fort armistead , under the river ,, dont know if this is true ,when my brothers and i were kids we went in the tunnels of fort armistead and couldnt find anything that went that far , and its creepy as all hell , ..
You are correct! No tunnels ever existed from that fort to any other location.
Been out to Frt. Carroll many of times, back in the late 60's and early 70's. Grew up with a lot of good buddies. One of them owned a boat, and his mom owned a place on Bear Creek, in Dundalk Md. We'd pack a cooler full of beer, a few crab cake sandwiches, a few twisted jays, and out on the water way we'd go ! Frt. Carroll was on our way past open waters. We had friends that lived on the Magothy River, down on Gibson Island.
Sounds like me in the 70's I can relate to that.
@@kylemoran4343Worked in the shipyd in the 80's ... had a co-worker w/ a waterfront house on Chink Creek, off Bear , across from SPCC ... used to run out to 7'Knoll when the Lthse was still there and pull wht.perch out of the rocks
Hahaha typical Baltimore. Wasting money on something that’s not even worth anything. Back then they were trying to defend Baltimore against the outside. Today Baltimore is crumbling from the inside ironic
And what are you doing to help change that?
Nancy Pelosi’s father and brother were both multi term mayors. Ever seen the HBO series, The Wire? It’s about Baltimore after the D’Alesandro family destroyed it. Why do you think Nancy went all the way to California?
😂
It's symbolic of what seems like the entirety of US, every city
And the city was also focused most on railroads especially the B&O
I have an amusing vision of turning it into a museum to hex map wargames. This would be appropriate, as not only is the fort hexagonal, but Baltimore was the home of Avalon-Hill, a noted maker of such games.
Thanks for this video because I was always intrigued by this unique feature wherever I drover over the key bridge before collapse.Now I know what it is.
Nowadays Baltimore just needs to be protected from its own
@@Not_You_2 yup. It’s a mess to put it mildly. Very poorly run.
@@nomansland4811 Wait a second... are you saying that decades of leftist leadership have harmed the city they were supposed to help????
Yeah that tracks.
Or at least from large container ships?
Nothing like tossing a political jab in a history channel.
@@leodouskyron5671 what's political?
Reminds me of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas.
We used to paddle out there and poke around. It was really cool.
If there’s a zombie apocalypse, this is where I will go.
I live nowhere near there, but after the Dali hit the Scott Key bridge, I learned that it’s now been turned over as a bird sanctuary.
Is this from The Commonwealth? I bet there’s a settlement that needs my help! 😂
Right out of Fallout 4!!
I wish my anxiety would've let me look out the window when i rode across the Key bridge omw to work in sparrows point. I've never looked out the window going across the Bay bridge either😢
I’m watching this video while staring at the fort 😁 thank you for the great video.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Robert E Lee was a US army engineer building this
I’m never going to play any of the games advertised.
In NYC we got many forts. One in front of everyone. It's called fort wood. People pass it everyday. Yet don't really care about fort wood. It's a amazing fort. It also has ghost tales. Like about Captain kidd. The Pirate. Who buried gold. Where is fort wood. Right on liberty Island. Today used by the statue of Liberty. As the base to hold up the statue of Liberty. People died there. Yet the fort was filled in. Look more about fort wood online.
What is today the Army Air Defense Artillery branch grew out of the Coastal Artillery. So today’s Patriot missile units trace their lineage to the men and organizations which manned these coastal forts.
I would buy it
How I never knew this existed is amazing because D.C. is so close by .
Fort Carroll was purchased by an attorney for $10,000 in 1958 and wasn’t listed on a historical site until the 2000’s.
When was Fort Armistead, Fort Smallwood, Fort Howard Built and was it at the same time period as Fort Carroll. Fort Armistead is on the west shore form Fort Carroll and Fort Smallwood and Fort Howard are across from each other at the mouth of the Patapsco River?
oh yeah i forgot about fort smallwood , its a great park , used to go there alot , the fort itself is a very small section left and its sealed up you cant get into it , never went to fort howard ..
yea war machines is the best game since fast and serious 3
There is also Fort Massachusetts in Mississippi, or Alabama.
It can be purchased, along with some of the lighthouses in the area. The problem is, currently the Coast Guard requires the owner to do nothing with the property; not live there or camp there; visit only with written permission; allow government usage whenever they wish. The most reasonable inference is that the incomplete nature and decay of the structure creates a safety issue. It's just a money hole. The Federal government doesn't really want traffic around the fort.
The World: Listens to the Star Spangled Banner "How American!"
Baltimore: Listens to the Star Spangled Banner "Never Again!"
I remember looking at this fort when I was a kid going over Key Bridge and looking down at it. I thought the fort looked odd.
When my dad was a teenager he used to go in the tunnels that connected fort armistead and fort Carroll before they blocked them off
There were tunnels?
@@markthompson4885 A persistant urban myth. There never were any tunnels from Fort Carroll to any where else. Pure hokum.
I used to hang out at FT. Mchenry ruins and walk through tunnels before they collapsed good times
Such a beautiful fort. I grew up in Baltimore and it always felt like such a wasted landmark "bird sanctuary" 🙄
Are there any plans to restore it as a tourist attraction? Robert E Lee designed it!
would be cool to see a small kayak launch and landing built there
Could be some serious liability issues allowing people access to this historic site.
@@jeffjerome4805 seems there always is
We used to go out there by boat in the late 70s. It was nothing but birds, rats, trees and vegetation. There was a peach tree on the island and the peaches were delicious
It's more of a quirky historical footnote. Was Robert E. Lee in the Corps of Engineers?
Yes… And he designed and supervised construction of many of the coastal fortifications of the early 19th century.
Baltimore has Fort McHenry to keep up and asking a poor city government to do more on privately owned land is asking to much. Asking them to keep it going after the US government abandoned it seems rude.
The wooden pylons this man made Island was built on have likely deteriorated into nothing so anybody trying to restore Fort Carroll may have a major construction project just stabilizing the ground the fort sits on.
"sometimes referred to as the birthplace of the National Anthem"... SOMETIMES??? As a Baltimorean, I've never heard anything deviating from that, what I call "fact".
I agree with the sentiment that Fort Carol needs to be saved however it is absolutely not in the right place because of the politics of that city to allow it to be restored.
I went out there it's so much bigger than it looks from land or driving over the bridge. We also got attacked by flies and fleas from all the birds that live out there.
You could see it from the Francis scott key bridge before it collapsed
I saw an interview of the current owners. The person's grandfather was the one that wanted to build the casino. Through out the interview the person sounded like more and more like a person that has a classic muscle care rusting away in their driveway. They want to one day see this and that happen to ft carroll but you could see it was never going to happen.
It's really not that historical. It's just a building that was never completed.
You don't even mention Pea Patch island in Delaware bay. That fort is much largher than this puny site.
Sad. Several hundred billion for Ukraine but not an odd billion to rebuild a historic treasure
Ukraine and defending western interests is 100x more important than spending a BILLION to restore an old fort with no actual strategic or economic value.
It’s a bird sanctuary, it can stay like that. Maryland itself had to rebuild the Key Bridge and that’ll take years, we can’t waste money restoring an old fort
It's actually for sale too. In 2004 it was assessed for $31,500, but im not sure what it would cost today.. But you can't do a damn thing with it because migratory birds use it and it's illegal to do anything to an area that migratory birds habit
It would make for a cool coast guard base.
For the last 15 to 20isH years Fort Carroll has been privately owned by a regular citizen. Not any government entity.
Take the tax money from the legalized dope and put it to good use!
I live 3 miles straight line distance from the fort. For many years now the fort has been used by nesting shore birds... shore birds that were driven from a nesting site on Sollers Point when the Key Bridge was built. The fort failed... we failed with the bridge... maybe we should learn how to have success by following nature's examples?
Wouldn't a circular design provide better fire distribution?
A much smaller Fort Monroe existed ,c. 1799. It was there in the war of 1812.
LOL - Dude. Baltimore was not vulnerable as a 'coastal city' (we are NOT a coastal city). It was tried and the Brits failed a the Battle of Baltimore where they tried to take Ft. McHenry and failed. We stood. No feds needed. Our militia got the job done. A guy wrote a poem about it that became a pretty popular song. The Brits went back down the Patapsco River to the Chesapeake Bay and landed the troops that burned DC into rural Virginia.
We are a messed up city. We have a lot of problems. But one thing we do have in spades is resilience. Three armies from three different entities tried to take us and they all failed - the Brits, then the Confederacy, then the Union. We denied them all and stood independent and free. Want to do business? Need a ship full of horses, a consignment of tobacco, or a wagon full of shot for your muskets? Then come on down. Just leave your army at home.
@@jeremywilkerson7502 excellent comment. Well said Sir! The troubles Baltimore is known for today are nothing in comparison to the rich and deep history that made it famous 2 centuries ago
Sailing the bay my whole life out of middle river, always been considered a bird sanctuary, ospreys. We have a real fort nearby, can you see?
The discussion of Baltimore's concerns with harbor defense omitted the attack on Ft McHenry. That's a pretty big omission for a video purporting to be educational.
Oh, say can you see?
Ive swam to n around this thing hundreds of times in the 90's. My uncle used to tell me there were wild dogs & animals out there. Which has the opposite effect lol. I rem going down in the tunnels. They used to go all the way through to fort armestead. On an unrelated note,we got cinimagraphic quality footage of the key bridge being knocked down....but NEVER told WHO filmed it perfectly?
Robert E. Lee was a genius.
Primary mission of the founding of US Military Academy? Combat engineering. West Point’s earliest graduates were tasked with creating coastal defenses, as well as forts and support/supply roads.
@@fredcloud9668 And a great man and patriot.
@@Mark-bi4ne Until Lee broke his oath to defend the Constitution, and fought for slavery.
@@treyhelms5282 you are incorrect with that statement. Lee was from VA and fought to defend VA. it's as simple as that.
@@Mark-bi4ne And what was Lee defending Virginia's right to do?
First line, right out of the gate is incorrect, it’s not located on he coast, Not even close.
I’ve known about Fort Carroll for 40 years, and I’m not from Baltimore. No more views from the Key Bridge, alas.
So what was the disgrace?
I'm surprised it still stands due to the fact of who was the architect of it all.. it's the same person who designed the water system for Baltimore, which still functions. They are re-doing that in my mind to take his name off of it all as they took down his statue as well. & you diddnt mention the tunnel from ft carrol to the main land..
I think that WBAL had something about this and the wildlife that’s here. More like birds and different kinds of birds habitate there
Surprised they didn't make it the Baltimore Alcatraz.
It's for sale ! Would make a great outdoor bar and restaurant . For boats only 😊
*Designed by Robert E. Lee*
🔥🔥🔥🦀
Unfortunately Baltimore has to many problems and will never offer any assistance. Sad to see it go.
How about Ft Covington, now port Covington........in Baltimore
I'm told it is for sale again
I couldn't finish watching this video. It's interesting, but I can only tolerate the word "hexagonal" being mispronounced so many times.
Saw it on a Charleston harbor tour a few months ago. Had a Confederate flag flying over it.
I fish near it, there are a million birds there.
Sometimes the birthplace of the National Anthem? You do a ton of video about here. Must be from here, check out the flag house.
There is a stars and stripes buoy just north of the Key bridge on the eastern side of the river. That's supposed to be the spot where the ship Francis Scott Key was observing the bombardment of Ft Mc Henry.
All fun and games till the mirelurk queen shows up
Looks like a good place to ride out the zombie apocalypse