Popular Places RSSMon, 05 Oct 2026 05:27:33 GMThttps://www.floridastateparks.org/fortclinchThe entrance to Cumberland Sound and the St. Mary’s River has been vital to Floridians for close to 300 years. The first fortifications on the site began in 1736, but it wasn’t until almost a century later that Fort Clinch as we know it today began to take shape.Following the widespread destruction of the War of 1812, the desire to protect the country from other nations in times of conflict grew. The Third System of Fortifications entailed a series of forts built along the U.S. coastline to defend against foreign invaders.Construction of Fort Clinch began in 1847, with visions of a triumph of masonry and stone built mostly by civilians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the coast of southern Georgia. However, by the outbreak of hostilities at the start of the Civil War, only about two-thirds of the fort was complete, and cannons had yet to be mounted on the walls.At the start of the Civil War the fort came by default under Confederate control, which established fortifications and batteries on Amelia Island and the surrounding area.As the Union began to gain control of coastal and southern Georgia, General Robert E. Lee ordered the fort evacuated, and Union troops arrived in March 1862. Company E of the New York Volunteer Engineers continued work on the fort, but it was not completed by the end of the war and was left empty by 1869.The U.S. Army maintained the fort in caretaker status until 1898, when the sinking of the USS Maine sparked the Spanish-American War and the fort was used again as a barracks and ammunition depot. The Army added fortifications, including mounting guns and laying a minefield outside the walls. Less than a year later, hostilities ceased, and Fort Clinch was abandoned again.After years of emptiness, the Army sold the fort to private entities in 1926, as it was no longer considered strategically valuable. Years of neglect took their toll on the old brick walls, as pieces crumbled and... Read more

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