Get out there!

Today I took a trip to Fernandina Beach to visit Fort Clinch. Yes, I had been there before, but it had been

20+ years since my last visit. The place had changed and for the better.  You can tell some of the bricks aren't the same color  because they have been restoring it.

Don't SHOOT!

Fort Clinch was built in 1847 and Union troops were stationed there during the Civil War. Although there weren't any battles there it looks like the were prepared for Johnny reb to make an entrance.

The fort was built on this location to protect the entrance of the Amelia River, and during the War of Northern Aggression  it guarded against resupply efforts of the south.

Cannon balls that were recovered from the site.

I was wondering what they did for drinking water... so I asked a park ranger. He told me that some of the roofs were "V" shaped to collect rain water. When the fort was under construction they put in six cisterns that could hold 53,000 gallons of the collected rain water. They also had a hand pump near the cook house

and bakery.Can you imagine just having water to drink, maybe some tea and coffee? I took this photo from the store house and it looks to me like someone was prepared for saturday night!

After checking out the fort I decided to walk one the trails called Willow pond. Some visitors near the trail were slow moving while yet another didnt want to move at all. I told the second one that he could have the trail to himself and that it was time for me to go.

He was on the trail as I approached and I am glad that he moved about a foot or so or I wouldn't have seen him. He sat there and was a lil too close to the trail for me to pass by. IMO the only good poisonous snake is a dead one. Since I was only packing a camera I shot him with what I had!