Entrance to Fort Washington

TOURING FORT WASHINGTON

The National Park Service offers guided tours of Fort Washington on Thursdays through Sundays, as staffing allows. These 45-minute tours are scheduled multiple times each day. If you are traveling to Fort Washington specifically for a tour, I suggest calling that day to confirm that tours will actually be held. The phone number is (771) 208-1555.

If no tours are held during your visit, you can always explore the fort on your own. A self-guided tour brochure is available at the Visitor Center. There are eighteen stops on the tour, all described in the brochure. In addition, wayside exhibits have been placed at the main points of interest. Plan to spend an hour touring the fort.

Fort Washington also hosts musket and artillery firing demonstrations on the weekends, though schedules vary by month. See the official Fort Washington Park Calendar web page for a current schedule of tours, weapons demonstrations, and other special events.

Artillery firing demonstration at Fort Washington Park (photo by National Park Service)

POINTS OF INTEREST AT FORT WASHINGTON

Construction on Fort Washington began in September 1814, only one month after the previous fort on the site had been destroyed in the War of 1812. It is a bi-level fort made of brick and stone, and it took ten years to build. The sally port—fort jargon for entrance—is a little fancier than most forts of its time, though this may be explained by the fact that its design and construction actually pre-date the forts of the Third System of Coastal Defenses built between 1816 and 1867.

The arched entranceway is comprised of two sets of heavy doors at either end of a short corridor. Should the enemy breach the first doors, the second set will keep them from advancing into the fort. In the meantime, armed men stationed in rooms on either side of the corridor can fire at the enemy soldiers through gun ports cut through the wall. A draw bridge controls access to the entrance.

Sally port of Fort Washington in Maryland

Sally port as seen from inside Fort Washington

Entrance into the fort is on the upper-level parade ground. Fort Washington was originally supposed to be outfitted with guns on both the top and bottom levels, but in the end they were only mounted on the upper level. One cannon is on display, but you can see all of the gun platforms along the terreplein, the name given to the upper-level area of a fort where the guns are installed.

Barbette-mounted cannon and carriage at Fort Washington

Gun platforms at Fort Washington

If you want to learn about the mounting apparatus and see how the heavy guns were moved, watch the following video—it’s one of the best I’ve seen on the subject. In fact, the National Park Service ought to buy this guy’s video and show it at every Civil War-era fort in the entire park system.

There is a great view of the Potomac River from the terreplein, both to the north and south, which is why this location was chosen for a fort.

View of the Potomac River looking north from Fort Washington

Below the fort is Battery White, an Endicott-era artillery battery from the 1890s. It replaced the Water Battery that was constructed at the same time work on Fort Washington began. Before the more modern artillery installed at Battery White existed, cannon at water-level batteries could be fired so that the cannonballs skipped across the water, making it easier to hit enemy ships. Some parts of the Water Battery remain—for example, the gun platform in the bottom left corner of the photo below. See the Battery White web page here on National Park Planner for more information and photos.

Battery White and gun platform from the Water Battery, Fort Washington Park

The lower level of Fort Washington consists of casemates: fortified rooms used to house artillery pieces. Because artillery mounted in casemates had to be fired through an embrasure (hole in the wall), they had limited movement left to right and up and down as compared to the barbette-mounted guns on the terreplein. However, the casemates offered superior protection for the guns and the men manning them. Since the casemates at Fort Washington were never armed, they were used as storerooms and even living quarters. You can walk down and look inside, but most are empty of anything other than junk.

Lower level casemate entrances of Fort Washington in Maryland

Casemate doors of Fort Washington in Maryland

Old stove in one of the casemates of Fort Washington

Casemates have arched ceilings to support the weight of the upper level of the fort. An arch provides superior strength as compared to a straight ceiling.

Interior of a casemate at Fort Washington

A unique feature of the Fort Washington is a caponiere, a structure that protrudes from the fort wall similar to a bastion. The caponiere was armed with Howitzers. The structure was added to the back side of the fort in the 1840s as extra protection from a land invasion. It allowed armed men and cannon to shoot parallel along the fort wall at enemies who could not be shot at by those stationed directly above on the wall itself. Guns were mounted inside and on the top level of the caponiere.

Caponiere at Fort Washington

Graphic depicting a caponiere like the one at Fort Washington

Diagram shows how bastions and other protruding structures help defend a fort

The caponiere is open for you to explore. One mounted cannon is on display and another is lying on the ground. The grooves in the brick floor held iron tracks called traverse circles. The wheels of a barbette carriage fit into the track so that the gun could swivel from side to side.

Cannon mounted in the caponiere of Fort Washington

Cannon lying on the ground in the caponiere of Fort Washington

Other points of interest at Fort Washington are the Enlisted Men’s barracks and the Officers’ Quarters. Both buildings are nearly identical to each other. The Officers’ Quarters is the one closest to the sally port, and some rooms have been renovated and furnished per the time period.

Officers’ Quarters of Fort Washington

Renovated room in the Officers’ Quarters building of Fort Washington

Examples of cannon used at the fort are on display in front of the Enlisted Men’s barracks. These are authentic guns, but not necessarily ones that were installed at Fort Washington.

Cannon display in front of the Enlisted Men’s’ barracks of Fort Washington

Of the 300,000 visitors to Fort Washington Park each year, only a small percentage ever set foot in the fort. The large majority of visitors are local residents who enjoy the recreational aspects of the park, particularly the picnic areas. Thus, even at the busiest times you won’t find much of a crowd at the fort. About the only time you will run into a large group is during the school year, as the fort is a popular field trip for students of Prince George’s County and the surrounding areas.

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