Fort Trumbull, Part 1
For the 250th anniversary of the United States, I took a three-day patriotic trip to the Thames River National Heritage Park in Groton and New London, CT. On Day 1, I spent the morning touring Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park, which included its monument, museum, and the interior of the fort, followed by an early afternoon boat tour, and a visit to Avery-Copp House (first part, second part). After making several quick history stops around Groton, I finished the day at UCONN Avery Point. The second day began at Fort Trumbull in New London. In the first part of this four-part mini series, I learned the architectural history of the fort and explore its interior, including rooms decorated in specific historical periods and statues preparing to shoot a cannon.
Fort Trumbull is now a state park, but it began in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War as a stone fort meant to shield the nearby harbor from enemy forces, especially the British Navy. Unfortunately, the first fort was not particularly successful, as political traitor and overall gross person Benedict Arnold led troops to attack the area and burn down most local building, including the fort. The fort then went through several reconstructions. The first was a “second system” design constructed in 1808. This designation means that the forts were used around the time of the War of 1812. The next design was a fort in the “third system”, also known as the Totten system, that took a long time to build with construction occurring between 1839 and 1852 and led by George Cullum, a graduate of West Point who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers under the leadership of Joseph Totten. This is the fort that still stands today. The fort has five sides and four bastions, the jutting out portions of the fort where the cannons were set. The entrance designs are unique among American forts because the architects were inspired by Egyptian architecture. While Napoleon Bonaparte had led the French to invade Egypt several decades earlier, this opened up European and American tourism to the area, which led to the Egyptian Revival style.
Each room of the fort that is visible to the public is decorated in a different style based on the periods when the fort was in use. Some of the rooms look similar to Fort Adams National Historic Landmark in Newport, RI. The rooms are in the barrel vault style, also known as a tunnel vault, with straight walls made of stone and a curved ceiling made of either more stone or red brick. This was obvious in the entrance, the bunk room, and the storage room. However, the rooms intended to represent later periods gradually covered these features. 19th century rooms from the War of 1812 and American Civil War had wooden floors, built-in fireplaces, and plastered walls and ceilings. By the time of the Cold War during the mid- to late 20th century, the walls were painted an overly bright seafoam green, and the beautiful ceilings were hidden behind an ugly drop ceiling.
Most of these rooms were restored by professional craftspeople to match the appearance from 1852. Tests of the walls, ceiling, and floors enabled the craftspeople to perfectly match the original paint colors, along with refinishing the wood floors hidden underneath laminate and other ugly materials. A highlight of the next section of my tour was a large cannon from the Civil War era surrounded by life-sized statues of soldiers preparing to fire it. Fictionalized events from this era were recorded in the short story “A Curious Experience” by Mark Twain, published in 1881. After admiring the parade or center of the fort, it was time to learn more about its history and climb the winding stairs to the top, which I will explore in Part 2.
