Diggory and I visited the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site yesterday morning. The weather was beautiful, and I wanted to take full advantage of an outdoor museum-going activity. Plus, I've driven past Fort Ward and signs pointing to Fort Ward more times than I can count. It was time to take a gander and see the site for ourselves. After making three turns...yes, only three from my house to Fort Ward, including one out of our driveway and one into the parking lot...we arrived on the grounds of Fort Ward. It's a museum and historic site, but it's also a park with several picnic areas, a very nice and well-shaded playground, and an amphitheater. There are two parking lots near the site's entrance, one immediately to the right and one to the left behind the museum building. Park your car behind the museum for the best access to the building, the Fort Ward ceremonial entrance gate, the reconstructed Officer's Hut, and the restroom facility (a separate building) with the only changing tables in the park. There is a ramp into the museum building immediately adjacent to the parking lot. If you don't have your stroller, go around the building to the front entrance. The displays inside the museum are very well done and provide a great overview of the Union Defenses of Washington during the Civil War. Fort Ward is the best preserved of the ring of 164 forts and batteries constructed to protect the capitol against Confederate attacks. You will also learn about daily life in the fort, how the fort was built, specific military campaigns in Northern Virginia, and the ongoing archaeological projects at the site. Pick up a self-guided walking tour brochure before leaving the museum building and continue your visit outside.
Momma and Diggory at the Fort Ward ceremonial entrance gate.
Diggory posing for the camera outside the museum's front entrance.
The original earthwork walls of the fort and the restored northwest bastion have been partially reconstructed to provide visitors a view of what the original fort would have looked like. Follow the paved driving loop past the restrooms and enter the interior of the earthen fort from several bridges over the moat. The loop is .6 miles and definitely walkable (or strollerable), but there are several parking areas around the loop near each of the picnic areas if you prefer to drive. Just opposite the parking for Picnic Area 1, there is a handicap accessible path into the fort and the northwest bastion. Once you cross the bridge, you'll go through a grassy area before reaching the pea gravel surrounding the canons. The pea gravel is nice but impossibly deep for successfully pushing (or pulling) a stroller around. Letting Diggory walk around resulted in lots of throwing of rocks, and he was only mildly interested in posing for the camera. I read the interpretive panels (of course) while he climbed the stairs for a better view of the fort's layout.
Diggory climbed the stairs to reach the top of the hill over the storage magazine.
After thoroughly investigating the northwest bastion, we crossed the driving loop and rolled down the hill to the playground. I couldn't pass it up or deny Diggory the pleasure of swings, slides, and various climbing apparatus. In fact, he was none to pleased with me when I said it was time to go. We traveled back up the hill, easier said than done with the stroller...there's not a path and lots of tree roots impeding our chosen route, and finished our walking loop around the park. I stopped to read the rest of the interpretive signs and even took Diggory's picture next to the historic marker near the fort's entrance off of Braddock Road. There's an amphitheater about two thirds the way around the loop with a more modern and handicap/stroller-friendly restroom in the rear. Once we were back at the museum, we took our picture near the ceremonial entrance gate and loaded up the car. Diggory fell asleep on the way home, despite my best efforts to keep him awake with several rounds of Old MacDonald's Farm, and as a result he didn't eat lunch until way past the usual time. But, it was all worth it for a wonderful morning spent in wonderful weather with wonderful company.
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