HISTORY OF FORT MACON

         The War of 1812 proved how vulnerable our young nation's coasts were to enemy attack.  Between 1817 and 1865, 42 permanent forts were built by the U. S. government from Maine to the Gulf Coast and California.  Fort Macon, named for North Carolina statesman Nathaniel Macon, was constructed from 1826 - 1834 at a cost of $463,790 (over 9 million bricks).  As a result of congressional economizing, it was garrisoned in 1834-36, 1842-44 and 1848-49, but more often it was occupied by a single ordinance sergeant acting as caretaker.

     Sgt. William Alexander and his wife were living at the Fort on April 14, 1861, when local militia, the Beaufort Harbor Guards, made an unauthorized demand for its surrender two days after the start of the War Between the States.  North Carolina soon joined the Confederacy and Fort Macon was a Confederate Fort for one year until April 26, 1862, when it was reoccupied by Union forces following heavy artillery bombardment the day before. After the war, the Fort served as a federal penitentiary for North and South Carolina from 1867 until 1876, then returning to caretaker status.

      In 1898, Fort Macon was reactivated during the brief Spanish-American War, with black troops under the command of black officers on alert for possible attack by Spanish naval ships.

      By 1903 the Fort was abandoned and all its guns sent to federal arsenals, mostly to be scrapped.  In 1924 it was sold for $1 to the state of North Carolina, along with its surround reservation, and became the state's second public park.  In 1934-36, it was restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps and was a well-visited park until the onset of World War II.  From 1941-44 the Fort was occupied by Coast Artillery units, a deterrent to German U-boats who preyed upon Allied shipping offshore.

      By 1946, Fort Macon was once again a state park and today has well over a million visitors each year.