Google Earth Image Of The Day

Fortress Monroe in Hampton, VA. A beautiful old masonry fort, still owned by the Army, as far as I know, although it has been targeted for base closing legislation in the past. A lot of history went on there, and a lot of famous people walked and lived there: Edgar Allan Poe, while he was an enlisted soldier; Robert E. Lee, who as an engineer helped survey and build Fort Wool, which is across from Fortress Monroe, on an artificial island next to the entrance of the modern Hampton Tunnel; and Jefferson Davis, who was held captive at Fortress Monroe following the Civil War, and whose lovely meerschaum pipe, carved as an egg grasped in an eagle's claw, is still on exhibit there, or was in 1983 when I last visited.

The fort is fully moated, the moat open to Chesapeake Bay; it is full of jellyfish. The fort has a path all around the top, which also serves as a pet graveyard; lovely views of the area are possible from the path, and lying in the grass atop the casement roofs in the summer is wonderfully pleasant.

There is a "Casemate Museum" that shows much of the history of the area, including the battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, the latter more familiarly known as the Merrimack.