I have been reading about these amazing structures, and it seems to me that they are also from an earlier advanced civilization. They are in places all over the world, and supposedly built since the 1500’s, but many seem to have been older than that, and then repurposed, like a lot of other old structures have been. I was chatting with @Ivan Tea Sanderzon yesterday, and he happened to mention that he had been to Fort Morgan, here in Alabama, and it was supposed to be haunted. I thought the name seemed familiar and that I had read about this fort; so I looked it up……… and , YES, it is a Star Fort ! Now I am wondering if I can convince my son and DIL that they want to drive to Mobile and visit an old fort, and take mom along ? Anyway, here is a short video that shows some Star Forts, and explains about them, and then we can talk more about specific ones in this thread.
Here is a website that details the start forts here in the continental United States, with pictures and information about each of them. It only goes into the documented history, and not anything about a star fort being from an earlier civilization; but it is a good starting point to learn more about what one is. http://www.starforts.com/usa.html
I've studied this for years, thanks Yvonne for more of the history. We've camped at Huguenot Park for over 40 years. Although haven't been there in at least 15 years. Beautiful beach, Jettys. There are drawings of the Christian Huguenots hanging from trees in some studies.
I was looking to see which Star Fort you might have been near when camping at Hugonot Park, and it looks like Fort Caroline, which was started by the Hugonots, was probably the closest star fort to where you liked to camp. Did you ever visit the star fort when you were camping in that area, @Marie Mallery ?
I think that would be Fort Matanzas. If that is correct, we've visited that fort many times. Would've like to go in on boat when we had a seaworthy boat, but Matanzas Inlet is very dangerous passage. They say that part of the fort is original. I don't know.
As far as I can see, Fort Matanzas is not a Star Fort, just a regular one, and I can’t see it looking like the star fort shape when I look at it on the maps. If you look on that star fort link I posted, it shows the ones that would be near you in Florida.
Here in Michigan, along with the better-known "mounds" there were once "gardens" (mostly in the SW corner of lower Michigan) and also unexplained "fortification" walls often near rivers. I'm not sure we ever had explanations for any of these, and who knows where the originals had long since decayed and something was later built upon them of lesser materials and quality with entirely different uses? The mounds themselves often have tales in journals and diaries contemporary with the time of excavation. Some of these mention skeletons of both giants and pygmies, at different levels, as well as out of place artifacts like worked iron tools and vessels and relatively advanced ceramics. Not just stone and copper beads and knives and other things more easily explained.
As far as I know, the Star Fort was developed as defense against artillery. The old conventional square or rectangular forts were demolished by the advent of gunpowder. Even trebuchets gave them problems. The star fort structure helped stand up against heavy artillery, much of which was on ships as it was heavy to move overland. That is why most of them are near some body of water--lake, river, sea, or ocean. Eventually, artillery pieces were developed that were smaller and could be wheeled and pulled by horses, so star forts had to be built inland but they were usually smaller, as the cannons were smaller. As WWI demonstrated, no above-ground fort can stand up to modern artillery shells, so even the star forts are no longer effective.
The star forts seem to be a totally separate thing from the mounds, as far as I can see. I am looking at the list of star forts, and for Michigan, it looks like there are two of them, one on Mackinac Island, and one on the mainland , right near the Mackinac Bridge, and then there is one near Detroit, Fort Wayne.
Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL, is the oldest masonry fort in North America. It would qualify as a star fort, if you don't mind your star only having four points.....but they're spectacular points. Construction began in 1672. It's in marvelous condition.
It is the shape , @Marie Mallery , they have points on them, something like a star. Here is a picture of the one at St. Augustine in Florida. If you watch that short video I posted, there are more pictures of star forts, and they are all over the world. I actually went to this one in Florida several years ago when my daughter took me along with her when she was working in Orlando for the week; but at that time, I had never heard of a Star Fort, so I didn’t know what I was seeing. According to our history (that we are told), they were all made in the last 500 years; but the possibility exists that , like man other ancient structures, they may have actually been made my an earlier advanced civilization, and then just repurposed by us in the last few hundred years. There are many interesting videos on youtube , if you are interested in star forts.
No Yvonne, I misunderstood what the subject was about, I was talking the Huguenots, while the subject was about star forts. Logging off and on here in-between other things.
LOL. I finally got it, been a busy day on phone, cooking, and just piddling around. Thanks for the help. I wouldn't rule out other creators, I figure it is very possible. We still don't know who built pyramid's or Stonehenge.