Fort Fisher guarded the last major Confederate port open to blockade runners, and its fall in January 1865 helped close the Civil War's final months. The site preserves a portion of the huge sand-and-earth fortification, with a visitor centre and a walking path across the remaining works.
This is not a grand stone fort. Its power is in the landscape: low earthworks, sea wind, and the sense that the Cape Fear River and Atlantic made this strip of coast strategically vital.