Fort Delaware - The Fort Today

The Fort Today

Rear view of Battery Alfred Torbert inside Fort Delaware in Fall 2011.

Delaware acquired the fort from the United States government in 1947 after the federal government declared it a surplus site. Today, Fort Delaware State Park encompasses all of Pea Patch Island, including the Fort. Transportation to the island is provided via ferry. Once at the island, visitors are brought to the fort on a jitney. Tours and special programs are available to visitors. For example, visitors may see, daily, the 8 inch Columbiad gun fired which is located on the northwest bastion. Park staff, AmeriCorps members, and Fort Delaware Society volunteers interpret the roles of people who were at the fort during the Civil War.

Beach erosion affecting Pea Patch Island was recognized as a potential threat to the Fort in 1999. The United States Army Corps of Engineers erected a 3,500-foot-long seawall during the Winter of 2005-2006 which now protects the historical fort site and a migratory bird rookery, considered to be the largest such habitat north of Florida.

Popular Events
Each year in the second week of June, there is an "Escape from Fort Delaware" triathlon, where entrants follow in the footsteps of the 52 escapees from the Civil War prison. A boat shuttles the athletes out to Fort Delaware, a Civil War historical interpreter fires a musket to start the race, the swimmers jump into the Delaware River, and swim back to land and then do the bike and run events, finishing on the town green in Delaware City, Delaware.

Starting in 2009, the non-profit Delaware Ghost Hunters and park staff lead walking tours / paranormal investigations on Friday and Saturday nights in September and October. There are usually two tours each night starting at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. respectively. Tickets can be purchased online from the Delaware State Parks' website.

Also starting in 2009, Fort Delaware has hosted at least one game each summer of the Diamond State Base Ball Club, a vintage base ball team. The Diamond State Base Ball Club also typically plays 4-6 games per year at nearby Fort DuPont. The Diamond State Base Ball Club is a non-profit amateur organization created for the purposes of providing physical fitness to its members, educating the public on the history of baseball and local history, and serving as a point of public pride.

Since 2011, Fort Delaware State Park's "Appetite for Apparitions" has been a popular night-time program, offering dinner at Crabby Dicks in Delaware City followed by a ferry ride to the island for ghost stories.

Television & Pop Culture
The A&E Network's Civil War Journal recorded portions of an episode at the fort entitled "War Crimes: The Death Camps" that originally aired Oct. 9, 1994.

Fort Delaware has its share of ghost stories and has recently been under investigation for paranormal activity. The Sci-Fi Channel investigation series Ghost Hunters conducted two cases there including a live televised investigation on Halloween in 2008.

The Sci Fi Channel investigation series Ghost Hunters Academy recorded an episode, which aired June 23, 2010.

The British series Most Haunted also did an investigation of the fort in their 11th series of the show.