This was one of the string of forts built to protect Washington DC during the Civil War. Fort Foote is on an embankment on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. Unfortunately it is currently a rather sad place. Now, I was not there at a great time, mid-winter and all that grey. But it was trash filled, very poorly maintained and just disappearing into the ground. It is much more of a local dog park than a National Park Service site. Even the view of the Potomac which in the day of the fort was unobstructed - and would be amazing today, has been grown over with scrappy trees. The only redeeming feature, aside from its place in history are the two amazing 15 inch Rodman Smoothbore Cannon. These massive weapons were placed here is 1864 and considered so big they have never been moved. It took 40 pounds of black powder to propel the 434 pound ball. The crew could fire every 4 minutes.
