Featured image courtesy of the National Park Service
If you need a break after a grueling first couple weeks of the quarter, consider taking a day trip to one of Savannah’s biggest attractions. On Saturday, Fort Pulaski National Monument will be waiving its entrance fee, allowing anyone to come see the fort for free.
“Fee-free days are a great way to both thank our local visitors and introduce Fort Pulaski National Monument to first-timers who can find a new place to explore and enjoy,” said Fort Pulaski Superintendent Melissa Memory in a press release.
Saturday – National Public Lands Day – is the eighth of nine fee-free days Fort Pulaski is offering this year. The next and last one for 2014 is on Nov. 11, Veterans Day.
Typically, the national monument charges $5 for everyone 16 years and older. Those 15 and under enter free. The entrance fee waiver doesn’t cover other fees for things like camping, transportation, boat launches and special tours.
“Fort Pulaski contains some of the most well-preserved historic and natural resources in the United States,” said Memory. “The story of Fort Pulaski appeals to a wide range of visitors.”
It was originally built in 1833 to protect the port of Savannah against foreign invasion. During the Civil War, Confederate troops occupied the fort until they lost it to the Union in 1862.
The site is where John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, gave his first sermon in the New World, Robert E. Lee served his first assignment, U.S. Gen. David Hunter issued a premature slave emancipation order and where Union forces blasted thought-impregnable masonry fortifications to pieces with new rifled canons, indicating the inadequacy of such fortifications in the face of progressing military technology.
For the outdoorsy visitors, the Fort Pulaski National Monument contains one of the United States’ largest and most intact federally protected salt marshes. There are also several nature trails on-site, as well as a museum, guided tours, weapons demonstrations and picnic areas, among other activities.
