Fort Fisher to re-create lost parts of fort, including underground tunnel

After more than 163 years, parts of Fort Fisher that had been destroyed by time will appear more complete than ever thanks to construction recreating a lost part of the fort.

Known as the 'Lifeline of the Confederacy,' Fort Fisher became one of the most important forts of the Civil War. Despite that significant history, wilderness overtook Fort Fisher when the war ended. Time, nature and erosion took large chunks of the fort's earthworks. During WWII, the fort was used once again, and part of the fort was destroyed in order to build an airstrip.

In recent years, Fort Fisher has drawn nearly a million visitors to explore what remains of the historic site, which currently includes a 250-yard segment of land with the original fortifications.

Soon, they will have a lot more to explore.

"We're reconstructing the earthwork fort that was demolished in WWII, maybe 100 yards long," says Site Manager Jim Steele. "It'll include artillery emplacements, an underground ammunition magazine and a tunnel underneath, which was originally the main entrance."

This additional segment is a recreation of the 7th, 8th and 9th traverses, and it'll attach to the rest of the fort.

New Visitor's Center offers more in-depth exhibits

This won't be the only new thing for guests to explore. Fort Fisher is also building a brand new Visitor's Center, which will feature new exhibits that uncover the complicated history of the Civil War fort.

"When we reopen we’ll have our new museum building, and folks can start with an orientation movie about 10 minutes that gets everyone situated in time and space," says Steele. "We will have an exhibit gallery full of old Fort Fisher artifacts. We'll tell the story of Fort Fisher – and we are broadening our scope to begin much earlier than the Civil War."

That means including the stories of the people who lived on that land long ago, starting with finding traces of the original indigenous tribes, exploring early encounters between European settlers and the tribes, the rise of Wilmington, the Civil War itself, and also how Fort Fisher was turned into a trading base for anti-aircraft artillery gunners during WWII.

"It gives people more context of what was actually happening down here. The battles did not happen in a vacuum," he says. "There were people and events surrounding it."

A closer look at often 'untold' history

Exhibits will take a close look at how Fort Fisher was built – using thousands of cubic yards of sand and creating years of unending backbreaking labor.

"At any given time there were hundreds of enslaved people from inland plantations, requisitioned by the Confederate Army, brought down here to work," says Steele.

They also conscripted other vulnerable populations, like ‘Free Black’ men and women who lived near the fort, who were not safe despite their status as being 'free.'

"The ancestors of today’s Lumbee Tribe were brought down to work on the Fort," says Steele. "That’s a really ‘unknown’ history we’ve been exploring and will feature in our museum."

Exhibits will also explore how a division of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) played a role in the Battle of Fort Fisher. They also played a major role in capturing Wilmington, where families newly freed from slavery celebrated. Some members of the USCT stayed in Wilmington after the war.

"Our goal at Fort Fisher is to have a museum where people from all over the country and even the world can come here and look at the exhibits and find some sort of human connection across time," says Steele. "A story that speaks to them across time. Given the sheer variety of people who served here, a lot of people’s lives intersected down here. The story is more than just the battle.”

'Once in a lifetime:' When can you see for yourself?

The new construction also features a new lab for the underwater archeology branch. The new Visitor Center also offers weddings, and there will be a big multi-purpose room with a catering kitchen for receptions.

All of the new additions are a dream years, if not decades, in the making. With a total price tag of around $25 million, Steele says the State of North Carolina has provided a large portion of the funding, and Friends of Fort Fisher have also donated substantial amounts of funding from private donors and sales from their gift shop.

They started construction in October of 2022, and Fort Fisher plans to have completed everything around Labor Day, aiming to reopen for guests in the last week of September.

“Nothing like this has ever been done," says Steele. "It's a once in a lifetime project.”