By Linda Tancs
Positioned on a 565-acre peninsula known as Old Point Comfort, Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton, Virginia, is known as “Freedom’s Fortress.” That’s because, due to a legal loophole, thousands of enslaved Africans escaped and found refuge there during the Civil War. Strategically located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, it was a key defensive site. The site’s military history is chronicled at the Casemate Museum. Buildings of note include the oldest house (Building #1, Old Quarters), where Abraham Lincoln stayed while planning the attack on Norfolk in 1862, and Building #17, where Robert E. Lee and his family stayed while he was a young engineer helping to oversee the construction of the fort. The peninsula is also home to Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, the second-oldest light in the bay and the oldest still in use.
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