An Update on Fort Wool

The most recent local newspaper articles I could find on Fort Wool are shown below from the Newport News Daily Press and the Virginian Pilot. The first two articles are the same just reprinted in another paper. They provide background information on how Fort Wool came to become a bird sanctuary. The key part states “Now the federal Army Corps of Engineers is putting final touches on a proposal to use dredged material to build a 9.7-acre island along the Hampton Bar, about a mile south of downtown Hampton. Plans are for construction to start in 2027. The project is expected to cost 315.9 million, with the federal government paying 65% of the cost, and the state covering the rest, mostly with money set aside in the most recent state budget. Once the island is built, the hope is that decoys and loudspeakers will once again help lure the birds to their new home. There are also hopes that once the birds are gone, Fort Wool can be reopened as a historic site. The fort, then named Fort Calhoun, was built in 1819 to join with Fort Monroe in efforts to resist European aggression. It is an important part of the story of Hampton Roads not only for its role in the fledgling nation’s defense and in the Civil War, hut also hecause slaves built the fort and it later was a refuge for escaped slaves. Things are off to a good start for the migratory birds’ new island home, and historians and other residents, as well as state leaders, are considering how to revive Fort Wool as a historic attraction. Both projects are worthwhile. The new island will give the seabird colony a much better chance of surviving for the long haul. Fort Wool should once again be an important part of efforts to tell the region’s complex history.”

To read more about the role that Fort Wool and Fort Monroe played in the first slaves’ escape to freedom during the Civil War see these previous posts on this site (Fort Wool, Fort Monroe). Internet searches will state that the Old Soldiers Home in Washington, DC, was the site of the first presidential retreat used by James Buchanan. This is actually incorrect. The seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, used Fort Wool, then known as Fort Calhoun, for a presidential retreat to escape the stress of the capital. Here he met with cabinet members, pondered important presidential decisions, and swam in the waters off the Fort to improve his health and strength. He also took at least two family vacations here while he was president (Fort Wool the Star Spangled Banner Rising by J. Michael Cobb – Chapter 1).

Daily Press, Wednesday, Nov 05, 2025 page A016