Fort Morgan Candlelight Tour
A blog entry from our friend Luanne, aka Sunny.
The sun was hanging low in a hazy sky as I was driving west on Ft. Morgan road. My car was filled with excited chatter from three kids in the back seat.
“Grandmother, did you know ghosts feed off of energy?” My 12-year-old granddaughter asked. This question started a flurry of conversation between all of the occupants in my car.
I just shook my head. My daughter, the aforementioned granddaughter, one of her friends, my 8-year-old grandson and I were on the way to Ft. Morgan for the Candlelight Tour. Somehow, the imaginations of my back-seat passengers had conjured up ghost tales. I think it had something to do the stories they had heard from their friends about all the restless spirits that inhabit the old structure.
For anyone who hasn’t visited Ft. Morgan, it is a magnificent brick fort completed in 1834 to protect the entrance to Mobile Bay. The fort was manned, off and on, until 1946 when it was turned over to the state of Alabama
When we arrived, a large group of people were gathered outside the tunnel that leads to the interior of the fort. It was still very bright outside and I was wondering where the “candlelight” came into play. It didn’t take long for that question to be answered. There were lanterns containing candles spaced a few feet apart on both sides of the dark tunnel.
We emerged from the dark onto the fort’s courtyard and were greeted by interpreters dressed in Civil-War-era uniforms. The men looked right at home in their period clothing and didn’t look as hot as I would have imagined in the Gulf Coast heat and humidity. After a brief history of the fort and a few funny stories, we were guided to the laundry. Two women, also dressed in period clothing, explained how all of the clothing was washed in sea water. The cisterns on top of the fort collected rain water to be used for drinking and cooking and it could not be wasted for laundry services.
After looking through windows at the barracks and storage areas, we were guided outside the fort to a cannon pointed at Mobile Bay. By this time, the sun was touching the skyline across the bay and turning the calm water the color of fire. The solders quickly packed the cannon with powder and the lanyard was pulled. The crowd cheered and applauded as the plum of black smoke rose in the still air.
The fort remained open for another hour for visitors to explore the area in the twilight. The kids wanted to walk to the water and look across the bay. As the last of the light faded from the western sky, we explored the beach area. I asked if they had wandered through the dark recesses of the arched tunnels and was given a wide-eyed response of, “No.” The negative answer was almost in unison. The subject of ghosts did not come up on the way back to Gulf Shores. I guess the kids weren’t really disappointed with the shyness of the ghosts, I know I wasn’t.
The evening was fun and informative. I enjoyed the family time and seeing the fort at a different time of day. I recommend visiting the fort during the normal daytime hours, also. The view of Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico are breathtaking and the fort itself is an amazing example of architecture.
The tours start at 7 p.m. and continue every Tuesday through July.
