Another Trip East: Fort Mott.

I finally got it together to take another trip back East to visit my Dad, Wilmer. I took the train from Chicago to Philadelphia, then took New Jersey Transit to Pennsville, NJ. The bus stops near Cranberry Plaza, an old shopping center which is now home to the ubiquitous dollar store, among a few other local businesses. The department store that was once there now houses a mostly empty indoor flea market. When my Dad picked me up in his ridiculously huge station wagon, with the faux-wood side panels, I ran into Capriotti's sandwich shop and got a cheese steak sub, and got him an Italian, which is his favorite.

My Dad's car in front of his apartment on Fort Sumter Rd.
My dad lives in a run-down apartment complex with the seemingly ironic name Sunrise Gardens. It is home mostly to poor white folks living a marginal existence. My Dad is retired and lives on a fixed income. When I left he was totally broke. And that was on April 21st, he still had 'til May 3rd before he'd get his next check. I made sure there was enough food in the house and left him a 20 spot. I'd have left him more, but knew I would be in a similar situation when I got back, as I am as I write this: not a dollar to my name 'til Friday when I get paid.

He is getting old and frail, but still gets around, even though he has a little difficulty getting up and down the apartment's single front step. Generally, he seemed to be doing okay, although his involvement with a seemingly schizophrenic neighbor (who he referred to as "a little nuts") was of concern to me, having just dealt with my own share of crazy roommates recently.

One day I suggested we drive down to Fort Mott, where both he and I had been going since we were kids. Here's a description:

Battery Gregg
"Fort Mott was part of a three-fort defense system designed for the Delaware River during the post Civil War modernization period. The other two forts in the system were Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island and Fort DuPont in Delaware City, Delaware. Original plans for Fort Mott specified eleven gun emplacements with twenty guns and a mortar battery with six emplacements. Construction was started in 1872; however, only two of the gun emplacements and two magazines in the mortar battery were completed by 1876 when all work stopped.

Fort Mott, along with Fort Delaware and Fort DuPont, became obsolete as the principal defensive installation on the Delaware River with the construction of Fort Saulsbury, near Milford, Delaware, shortly after World War I.


Fire Control Tower.
Troops were regularly stationed at Fort Mott from 1897 to 1922. The federal government maintained a caretaking detachment at the fort from 1922 to 1943. New Jersey acquired the military reservation as a historic site and State park in 1947. The park was opened to the public on June 24, 1951".

Most of the inner parts, deemed unsafe, have been closed off to the public. Plus, I think local teenagers used to use it for a party spot. When I was a kid, these were still open and you could wander around through the various tunnels of cracked, dripping concrete. I always found them scary as they were unlit, and some of the old military equipment which remained reminded me of torture devices. There was also an old rumor that there was a tunnel under the Delaware River, out to Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island, where many Confederate prisoners of war met their demise due to disease and inadequate medical care. They are now buried at Finn's Point National Cemetery, which is next to Fort Mott.


A view into one of the Batteries.




Dad at the top of the Parapet.

As we walked around, I could see just how frail and stiff Dad had become. He had difficulty getting up the stairs to the top of the Parapet. I thought about how he used to bring us kids there when we were growing up, where we would spend the day running around and exploring. One of my memories is of going there with my Grandpop Dunham, sitting at wooden picnic tables eating grilled hotdogs and drinking Koolaid, likely on some church related function.


Postern Gate (tunnel) for narrow gauge ammunition railroad.



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