As a safety measure, Fort Fisher State Historic Site in Kure Beach will temporarily close to visitors starting Tuesday while exhibits, artifacts and staff offices are moved to the new 20,000-square-foot visitor center.
Plans are to reopen the site in phases over the summer.
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North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Division of State Historic Sites officials announced the temporary closure earlier this week for the facilities west of U.S. Highway 421. Those include the museum, restrooms, tour trails and parking lots.
Fort Fisher protected the Wilmington port during the Civil War, until it fell to U.S. forces in January 1865. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The original visitor center was built to accommodate an expected 25,000 people a year. Fort Fisher now sees annually more than a million visitors.
As the new visitor center nears completion, restoration work is expected to begin of the earthworks demolished during World War II to build an airstrip, when the site served as a training base.
During the closure, the public will have access to the Battle Acre tour stop across the highway from the visitor center along the oceanfront.
