Construction of US Highway 421 and World War II Helped Destroy Much of Fort Fisher

Earlier this month I was writing about my trip to North Carolina and the drive to Fort Fisher and the southern terminus of US-421.

Most of Fort Fisher is now underwater, swept away.  Beach erosion along the coats on the barrier islands is a regular occurrence, but when the offshore coquina beds were dug up and used as roadbed for the highway in the 1930s, the Atlantic Ocean really came inland.  It was much cheaper to use this available and near source than it would be to truck in rocks and gravel.

A huge number of granite stones had to be brought in to shore up the beach and withstand the pounding from the surf.

The Northeast Bastion was lost this way as well as the Mound Battery as well as the seaface of the fort.

Also, a lot of the land face mounds were also leveled when the U.S. Army built a landing strip during World War II when the fort and surrounding area were used for anti-aircraft training.

--RoadDog