Georges Island

short history

At the time of Euro-American colonization, Georges Island was comprised of two drumlins, rising out of the bay like other nearby islands. The island was used for agricultural for two hundred years until 1825 when the U.S. Government acquired the island for coastal defense.

Over the next twenty years the island was dramatically altered and one of the country's finest forts was built. Dedicated in 1847, Fort Warren's defensive design was virtually obsolete upon completion. However the fort served as a training ground, patrol point, and Civil War prison that gained a favorable reputation for the humane treatment of its Confederate prisoners. After one hundred years of military use the fort was decommissioned in 1947 and acquired by the Metropolitan District Commission for historic preservation and recreation in 1958.

To this day, within the fort's dark corridors, the legend lives on of "The Lady in Black," the ghost of a Confederate prisoner's wife who is said to have been sentenced to death for aiding in an escape and hanged in a black robe made from the Fort's mess hall drapes.