North Pier Trail Map (click to enlarge)

Length: .6 mile, round trip
Time: 45 minutes, including exploring the historic sites
Difficulty: Easy

The North Pier Trail at Fort Pulaski National Monument takes visitors to the remains of the North Pier on the Savannah River. This is where all passengers and supply ships landed when coming to Cockspur Island. You will also pass Battery Hambright and the John Wesley Memorial along the way. The trail is an out-and-back trail with a C-shaped side trail tacked on to it. You can take the side trail on the way out or on the way back, it makes no difference. For the record, I hiked to the pier first and did the side trail on the way back.

The trailhead is located in the forest at the far end of the Fort Pulaski parking lot (opposite from the Visitor Center). This is also the starting point for the Picnic Area Trail, and near the actual pier you can link up with the Dike System Trail.

Trailhead for the North Pier Trail at Fort Pulaski National Monument

The North Pier Trail is paved the entire way, and wayside exhibits line the path. These discuss the natural history of the area and how the soldiers and civilians used the plants in their daily life, so be sure to read some of them because they are quite interesting.

Less than 100 yards down the trail is a 4-way intersection. Take a left to begin the Picnic Area Trail. Take a right to start the C-shaped side trail, which leads to the Wesley Memorial. Since I was going to catch the side trail on the way back, I stayed straight.

Just past the intersection is Battery Hambright (.1 mile from the start). Once forts like Pulaski became obsolete due to improved artillery capabilities, they were replaced by concrete and rebar structures that could withstand the impact of the new artillery rounds. Construction on batteries around the country began in 1890 and continued through 1910. Battery Hambright was built between 1899 and 1901, but it was never outfitted with any guns, another example of taxpayer money well spent. Feel free to walk around inside and on top of the battery.

Battery Hambright on Cockspur Island (Fort Pulaski National Monument)

The area that you have been walking through on the way to the North Pier is the location of the former construction village. This is where the workers lived and supplies and building materials for Fort Pulaski were stored. While all buildings are long gone (destroyed by a hurricane in 1881), there are some remnants of the village that still exist. Once you pass Battery Hambright, be on the lookout for circular concrete structures on the side of the trail. These are old cisterns: holding tanks for water.

Cistern at Fort Pulaski National Monument

The North Pier is a couple minutes’ walk from Battery Hambright. Just before reaching it you will come to the second intersection with the side trail to the John Wesley Memorial, and a few yards later, the Dike System Trail, though you may not even notice it. Look for a raised piece of ground with gentle sloping sides.

View of North Pier with the original dike in the foreground (Fort Pulaski National Monument)

A wayside exhibit stands at the entrance to the old North Pier. Notice that most of the pier is now land-locked. When in use, deep water lapped both sides so that ships could dock and unload. Most likely this landing zone was dredged to maintain a required depth. Over the years the area has filled in with marsh land. (Note: The North Shoreline is now permanently closed for ecological restoration, so stay on the pier.)

Old North Pier at Fort Pulaski National Monument

Artist interpretation of life on the North Pier

All that is left today is the granite block foundation and some of the old wooden pilings in the water. Still anchored to the granite blocks are steel rings that ships used for tying up to the dock.

Original granite block foundation of the North Pier at Fort Pulaski, Fort Pulaski National Monument

Ruins at the end of the North Pier at Fort Pulaski National Monument

Wooden piling from Fort Pulaski’s North Pier still stand in the Savannah River, Fort Pulaski National Monument

If you turn around, you will see a grass-covered hill. This is Battery Hambright. The water side of the battery was encased in earth many feet thick. This not only kept the battery hidden from the view of enemy ships sailing past the pier, but it also added protection to the battery. Artillery shells coming in at an angle would slam into the earth and not the concrete walls.

Battery Hambright as seen from the water (Fort Pulaski National Monument)

Once done exploring the dock, take the paved path on your left to begin the side trail to the Wesley Memorial. The earthen trail is the Dike System Trail.

Earthen Dike System Trail (left) and the paved North Pier Trail to the Wesley Memorial (right) at Fort Pulaski National Monument

About five minutes down the side trail is a memorial erected in 1950 to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. Invited by James Oglethorpe to Savannah to be the minister, John and his brother Charles set sail in October 1735. The first place they landed in February 1736 was Cockspur Island. Wesley spent two years in Savannah before returning to England. He had come to convert Indians to Christianity, but because there were so few clergy in the area, he spent most of his time preaching to his fellow Englishmen. He felt that his stay in Savannah was a failure, but he did write a Collection of Psalms and Hymns, the first Anglican hymnal published in America.

John Wesley Memorial at Fort Pulaski National Monument

John Wesley Memorial at Fort Pulaski National Monument

When done at the memorial, continue on the side trail until it connects back to the main trail. Take a left to return to the Visitor Center or stay straight to hike to the picnic area.

The North Pier Trail represents all that I love in a trail at a historic site. If I want to go hiking in nature, I’ll go to the mountains or a forest, but when I am at a historic site I want the trails to have something to do with the history of the place. North Pier; Battery Hambright; old cisterns; John Wesley Memorial. You can’t hike a trail and run into much more history than that.

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