Fort Pemberton is a large earthwork fort on James Island in Charleston and was built to guard against a Union attack along the Stono River. It was purchased by the City of Charleston in 2019 and will be opened as a park at some point in the future. A Civil War era sketch and LiDAR image are shown below. Part of the fort has been lost to two roads but the rest is very well preserved. Below is an update on the project followed by some background information on the fort and a few pictures. If you have any other information please feel free to comment.

The Recreation Committee is chaired by Councilmember Caroline Parker with Councilmember William Dudley Gregorie as Vice-Chair. Recreation committee minutes from their website (website). Jason Kronsberg the Charleston City Park Director appears in the video.

In January of 2025 this article appeared on the web discussing the city’s plans (link). The video is worth watching. It is from a reporter at a local television station.

May 2025 minutes- looks like some type of restroom structure has been purchased, delivered and set (so presumably a prefabricated restroom has been delivered to the site and installed on May 7th).

September 2025- No discussion of the fort in the body of the minutes since November of 2024.

From the SC Battleground Preservation Trust website– “Fort Pemberton, a large five-sided Confederate earthwork on the James Island side of the Stono River, was one of the largest forts constructed by Confederate authorities for the defense of Charleston. Construction on the pentagonal earthwork was initiated in 1861 by the order of Confederate Commander Brigadier General John C. Pemberton for which the fort is named. Completed in 1862, the fort was 400 feet by 350 feet with an additional rampart 700 feet long. The earthen walls are 10 to 12 feet high and 20 feet wide at the base. The fort was initially armed with twenty guns of various calibers and built to keep Union gunboats from approaching Charleston from the Stono River. Fort Pemberton also included two powder magazines and a hot-shot furnace. Some of the fort’s guns faced inland to defend a land assault as well. The fort was described in February 1865 by Union troops as “a large well-built work, heavily armed.” The city of Charleston recently purchased the property to establish a park here.”

Fort Pemberton- Pictures taken from the street by me.