06/14/2026
Visited Fort Delaware (5-30-26) which is located in the middle of the Delaware River in Delaware City, DE. (These are the outside photos – Album #1 of 2). Been wanting to get to this place for a while now. Actually was surprised that the ferry went out that day due to the high winds. The place reminds me of a mini Ft. Jefferson which is located 60 + miles off the coast of Key West. Fort Delaware is listed on the NRHP. Here is a little history on this place. Sorry for the delay but when I transferred my photos, the camera duplicated some of them, renamed others, deleted ones and put most of them out of order. I am slowly trying to put them back in some kind of order.
Pea Patch Island emerged as a mud bank in the Delaware River in the 18th century. According to folklore, the island received its name after a ship full of peas ran aground on it, spilling its contents and leading to a growth of the plant on the island. In the 1790s, Pierre L'Enfant suggested the use of the island as part of the defenses of New Castle, Delaware and Philadelphia. During the War of 1812, a seawall and d***s were built on the island, with a view to building a martello tower there. By 1814, the island had grown sufficiently large for the construction of Fort Delaware. A five-pointed wooden star fort was built 1815–1824. However, this fort was wrecked by a fire in 1831. Construction began on a much larger polygonal fort in 1836, but this project was derailed by a decade-long legal battle over which state owned the island, which was won by Delaware. Construction then began in 1848 on the current fort, with an irregular pentagon design about the size of the previous star fort. The current brick and concrete fort was substantially complete by 1860.
During the American Civil War, Fort Delaware was used by the Union as a camp for Confederate prisoners, in particular those captured in 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg. Many of the prisoners who died at the fort are buried at nearby Finns Point National Cemetery in New Jersey. After the release of the last of the remaining Civil War prisoners, only a small caretaker force was left behind at Fort Delaware, and it was largely abandoned in 1870.[7] By 1898, rising tensions between Spain and the United States led to Fort Delaware once again serving as a potential frontline in protecting the ports of the Delaware River. The United States Congress authorized the installation of three 16-inch (41 cm) guns at the south end of Pea Patch Island as part of the Endicott program, with batteries for smaller guns elsewhere on the island. The guns were installed in 1898, at the time of the Spanish–American War. On the shores flanking the island, Fort DuPont and Fort Mott were built with modern weapons, and preparations were made to lay underwater minefields in the river. A garrison was once again in place at Fort Delaware until 1903, when another small caretaker force was left.
The fort was garrisoned once again in 1917, following the United States entry into World War I, but most troops left in 1919. Fort Delaware was manned again during World War II following the December 7, 1941 Attack of Pearl Harbor. The defenses around Pea Patch Island were disarmed during World War II, as Fort Miles at the mouth of the Delaware estuary superseded them.[8] The guns were removed in 1943, the fort was abandoned in 1944, and it was declared "surplus property" in 1945. In the early 20th century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged a channel around the island, using the infill to double the island's size on its northern end.
Ownership of Pea Patch Island and Fort Delaware was transferred to the state of Delaware in 1947. Fort Delaware State Park was opened to the public in 1951.
