Fort Columbia

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Last night Russ, the man who started this camp 50 years ago, came to our Bible study to talk to us about the history of the camp. Both the other couples have been here before, and Russ used to lead the weekly Bible study, so they know the story behind all this. Russ now has a bad heart, and it’s difficult to for him to talk. He would be telling a story, and he'd hit on a topic~~or pperson~~and say, "That's another story." We wanted to hear more of the stories, but it was a lot for him. It was enlightening to learn about the area, and all they went through to get this camp where it is today.

Today we went to Fort Columbia, on the south end of the peninsula. It was the fort that guarded the mouth of the Columbia from the late 1800s until the end of WWII. I’ll tell the story in the picture, but please bear in mind that I'm only passing on what I remember. This fort was interesting to me, but not really really interesting~~not like the cranberries. I'm not familiar with the terms or uses, so please don't judge me on the information I'm sending along.

Ok, here we go.....

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Photos

Housing
This was the housing mostly for the officers and soldiers of this fort. Now they rent out some of the houses (for weekends, or by the week, but you couldn't afford longer than that) and the rest of them are open for tours during the summer. There is one duplex that is marked private, and we didn't find out anything about that.
I think this man is Forest Gump's dad, because he seemed to show up every time I was ready to take a picture!

Cannon
There were two of these cannons, and we could go behind the concrete formation where they shot it. The cannon could be turned nearly 180 degrees.

Ordinance battery
This was used for protection while watching the water.

Battery
This was the biggest shelter for the ammo and powder and guns. It held three 8" guns on the top, and they would lower those guns to load them. Below, you could walk through the different rooms, and even though some of the metal has rusted, the concrete looks like it will still be standing there in another hundred years.