Fort Washington, M.D.

Sunday was another cold blustery day and I met up with other urban explorers at Fort Washington which, for over 180 years, was the only defensive fort guarding Washington D.C. We had some new members attending and so wanted to visit a level 1 area to introduce them to our group. The fort slipped in and out of military use right up until it was handed over to become a parkland and now has been preserved with some of the original cannons still present.

Many of the bunkers are still intact and the above image is the ceiling of one of them.

This was looking through one of the stone windows of the bunkers.

Further back inland was the first modern artillery position built for the Defense of Washington. Battery Decatur is named in honor of Commodore Stephen N. Decatur, a native of Maryland who served with distinction during the War of Tripoli and the War of 1812. The above steps led up to the battery.

We weren't sure what this outbuilding was for but it made an attractive photographic subject. It may have been the hospital.

Inside there was a derelict wall cabinet...

and this wonderful old electrical box.

This set of steps led up into the old fort which was a very damp building with moss and lichens covering the shaded areas of the walls and rivelets of water continuously coursing down the stonework.

This was the gateway leading out of the fort which was once partly surrounded by a moat and used a drawbridge.

We found a lot of old batteries back further in the woods and were glad we had flashlights as some of them had rooms underground.
Once we had finished at Fort Washington, only a few members remained so we scouted down D.C. and discovered that an old hospital which had been abandoned was now due for demolition soon. Watch this space!