Fort Sumter National Monument hosted more than 75 participants from more than 15 national and state parks at “Preserving Coastal Forts: a National Park Service Workshop.” The workshop, which ran from April 8 through April 10, 2008, in Charleston, S.C., provided a forum on preservation problems and solutions common to masonry coastal fortifications. Those in attendance included park superintendents, cultural-resource and facility managers, architects and engineers, masons and maintenance mechanics, contractors, and partners.

The superintendents of Fort Sumter, Fort Pulaski, and Castillo de San Marcos offered opening remarks, shaping the challenges that face the stewards of coastal fortifications. Some of the many challenges they sited follow:

• size and scale of repairs that many coastal fortifications require
  
• effects of the often severe marine environment
• accumulated backlog of deferred maintenance
• high cost of masonry repairs

They encouraged workshop participants to learn from their results, share their knowledge and develop networks to share information on future work. Cultural-resources manager Sandy Pusey-Cameron outlined the scale of the preservation needs for the 59 National Park Service units that contain fortifications: Over the next five years, the National Park Service has formulated for funding more than $510 million in deferred maintenance and $50 million for fortification work.

The first day of the workshop, participants visited Fort Moultrie for “hands-on” lessons about historic mortars from Historic Preservation Center masons and Fort Pulaski maintenance staff. On a fieldtrip the following day to Fort Sumter, fort forensic engineers lead participants in a practicum on the effectiveness of its waterproofing systems.

In addition to field demonstrations, the workshop presenters addressed “lessons-learned” topics, including the following:

• recently completed brick masonry work at Fort Washington and Fort Jefferson  
• results from developing and implementing treatment plans for concrete batteries within Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• using building science to inform decision making on treatments
• plans for future work at Fort Jay and Castle William at Governors Island
• using goats to control vegetation at Battery Weed at Fort Wadsworth within Gateway NRA
• controlling moisture at Fort Delaware State Park

Other guest speakers covered hurricane recovery work on forts at Gulf Island National Seashore and “best practices” resulting from the sustained efforts to preserve the masonry at Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine, Fla.  Many of these preservation treatments have the potential for broader applications to different styles and types of masonry coastal fortifications

David Hansen’s presentation was the highlight for many of the participants in the workshop. Hansen, author of the “Fortification Preservation Handbook,” presented a case study summarized the work to restore Battery Worth at Fort Casey, a Washington state park.  His example of balanced practical solutions to numerous technical obstacles inspired many in the audience.

The following National Park Service organizations sponsored the workshop:

• National Historic Preservation Center
• National Center for Preservation Training and Technology
• Cultural Resources Division, Southeast Regional Office
• Fort Sumter National Monument

At the conclusion of the event, sponsors announced plans to post digital versions of the PowerPoint presentations from the workshop to the NCPTT Web site. Those presentations are now available at that site:

http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/Training/PreservingCoastal-Forts.aspx .

NCPTT strives to develop and distribute skills and technologies that enhance the preservation, conservation, and interpretation of prehistoric and historic resources throughout the United States. To learn more, go to http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/About-Us.aspx.