Editing Fort Sumter (section)

== Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park ==
[[Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park]] encompasses three sites in Charleston: the original Fort Sumter, the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center, and [[Fort Moultrie]] on Sullivan's Island.  Access to Fort Sumter itself is by a 30-minute ferry ride from the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center or [[Patriots Point]]. Access by private boat is no longer allowed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Feds block private boats, drop-in visits to historic Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/feds-block-private-boats-drop-in-visits-to-historic-fort-sumter-in-charleston-harbor/article_6e5289c0-b856-11e9-808e-2f91ab89b8f8.html|publisher=The Post And Courier|access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref>

The Visitor Education Center's museum features exhibits about the disagreements between the North and South that led to the incidents at Fort Sumter.  The museum at Fort Sumter focuses on the activities at the fort, including its construction and role during the Civil War.

April 12, 2011, marked the 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War. There was a commemoration of the events by thousands of Civil War reenactors with encampments in the area.  A United States stamp of Fort Sumter and a [[first-day cover]] were issued that day.

On June 28, 2015, in the aftermath of the events of June 17, 2015, when a [[Charleston church shooting|mass shooting]] took place at [[Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church]] in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, the five small flags that were arranged in a semi-circle around the large flagpole flying the 50-star United States flag at Fort Sumter were lowered so that the South Carolina flag could be flown at half staff.  Those flown include a 33-star [[United States flag]], a [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] First National Flag ([[Flags of the Confederate States of America#First flag: the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863)|Stars and Bars]]), a [[South Carolina State Flag]], a Confederate Second National Flag ([[Stainless Banner]]), and a 35-star United States flag. This display was added to Fort Sumter National Monument in the 1970s. In August 2015, the flagpoles were removed to create a new exhibit. The four historic national flags now fly on the lower parade ground.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/FtSumterNPS/photos/a.171220619599140.44796.121164364604766/858979540823241/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/121164364604766/858979540823241 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |url-access=limited|title=Timeline Photos – Fort Sumter National Monument |website=[[Facebook]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

By December 2019, [[sea level rise]] led to a Park Service decision to move some of the large rocks "originally installed to protect the fort from the sea," farther from the fort's walls, in order to create a protective [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] and [[wetland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/12/fort-sumter-contends-with-sea-level-rise-and-extreme-storms/|title=Fort Sumter contends with sea-level rise and extreme storms|last=Manuzak|first=Stephanie|date=2019-12-12|website=Yale Climate Connections|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-19}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:FortsumterNM-welcome.jpg|Fort Sumter National Monument
File:Fort Sumter Aerial View.jpg|Aerial view of Fort Sumter National Monument
File:Overview of interior of Fort Sumter IMG 4543.JPG|The interior of Fort Sumter from the top of the fort
File:Tourists at Fort Sumter, SC IMG 4530.JPG|Tourists at Fort Sumter on a summer afternoon
File:Cannon display at Fort Sumter IMG 4528.JPG|Cannon displayed at Fort Sumter
</gallery>