Civil War Today

Now days Rip Rap Island is connected to the mainland by the Hwy 64 causeway and tunnel. There are three ways to visit the island. You can join the Norfolk Fire Department as a paramedic and wait for an emergncy call from the island, you can buy or rent a boat and motor out there yourself, or you can take the Miss Hampton Harbor Tour, during nice weather, and get a guided tour from a ranger. Unless you already have the boat, I recomend the last.

Fort Wool from the Bay.

The approach to for Wool from the Bay.

The view of the Fort from the dock.

The east end of the fort is concrete and is of later construction.

From the dock you can see the diffrence between the stone and the concrete construction.

Another view of the stone vs. concrete construction taken from the Miss Hampton II.

The east end of the fort is dressed stone and dates back to the origional construction, this is how the fort was built during the Civil War. Rip Rap Island is still shifting and settling after all these years and large portions of the fort are unsafe and off limits.

East end casement.

Gun enplacement with a Dhalgren gun.

Stairway to the upper wall.

Fireplace at the top of the stairs, built by a former caretaker.

Fort Monroe from the wall. it was just beyond the range of the Dhalgren cannon bellow.

The view of the Monitor vs. Merrimac Battlefield through a Fort Wool gun port.

Same view over the wall.

Sewell's point from Fort Wool.

A Sawyer Gun was deployed to the fort and used to shell a Confederate gun emplacement built on the point.

The view out into the bay.

Next: See Camp Hamilton or The Monitor vs. the Merrimac