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Charleston. Event Guide:
Fort Sumter National Monument
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Contact Information:
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1214 Middle Street 
Sullivan's Island, SC 29482
843-883-3123
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Description:
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Fort Sumter is only able to be reached by boat. There are two ferries available to transport guests to Fort Sumter Island. The ferries depart from Liberty Square in downtown Charleston, and from Patriots Point Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant.
Jan. 2 - Feb. 28:
Liberty Square - 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m.
Patriots Point - 1:30 p.m.
March 1 - 14:
Liberty Square - 9:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m.
Patriots Point - 10:45 a.m., 1:30 p.m.
March 15 - Aug. 20 & Labor Day Weekend:
Liberty Square - 9:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m.
Patriots Point - 10:45 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m.
Sept. 3 - Nov. 30:
Liberty Square - 9:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m.
Patriots Point - 10:45 a.m., 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 1 - 24:
Liberty Square - 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m.
Patriots Point - 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 26 - 31:
Liberty Square - 9:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m.
Patriots Point - 10:45 a.m., 1:30 p.m.
News Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day - Closed
Fort Sumter, located in Charleston, South Carolina, harbor, was named after General Thomas Sumter. However, the fort is best known as the site where the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.
It was built after the War of 1812 as one of a series of fortifications on the southern U.S. coast. Construction began in 1829, using slave labor, and the structure was unfinished in 1860, when the conflict began. Seventy thousand tons of granite were imported from New England to build up a sand bar in the entrance to Charleston harbor, which the site dominates. The fort was a five-sided structure (although not a regular pentagon but more like the home plate used in baseball). It is a brick structure, 170 to 190 feet long, with walls five feet thick, standing 50 feet over the low tide mark. It was designed to house 650 men and 135 guns in three tiers of gun emplacements, although it was never filled near capacity.
Information from Wikipedia
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