Architectural Features of Fort Delaware

Pea Patch Island, aka Fort Delaware, looks like a castle complete with a moat surrounding it. The walls are thick and strong enough to withstand artillery fire from the enemy.

The entrance is known as the "sally port" which in the modern vernacular means a controlled, secure entry way into an area. While it's easy to understand the word "port" as meaning portal, or entrance, one might ask, Where does the term "sally" come from and what does it mean? The term "sally" actually comes from the Latin word "salire" which means to jump, or the term "sortie" which refers to a military manuever in which soldiers create a defense and then retreat behind it waiting for the enemy to attack.

Today this term is used to mean entry into a controlled area in which the entire area is "safe" or protected. So now you know! :)

Although this fort was used as a prisoner of war camp during the War Between the States (this is the Southern term for the Civil War), the architecture of this fort is elegant by today's standards. This bleached wooden door and hand forged black wrought iron hardware caught my eye. There is a blacksmith shop in the fort.

Throughout the fort small openings covered with bars provided a view to across the moat.

Smaller doors like this led to well developed and clean water closets-- it's just funny that this one was a two seater!

Wonder how comfortable it would be to "do your business" with a companion at your side??? The social scientist in me wants to know if there's ever been a study done on this...

These walls are amazing! They are massive and beautiful... the worn brick and the arches speak of another time...

Imagining how this place was built with the tools and equipment available at the time strains the brain, and yet, it is an exercise in learning to think differently, seeing something from a different perspective, and trying to absorb the mood of a bygone era.

Old places that survive tell a story and pass on the old present to the future...and we who visit ccommemorate past lives and past times.