You Can Help Save Fort McHenry

You Can Help Save Fort McHenry. . , While the British attack lasted 25 hours, nature's assault of rain, snow, freezing and thawing continues every day., Erosion represents a breach in the fort's defenses against the elements. Once the grass dies and the earth is exposed, it is only a matter of time before the damage spreads and the very fabric of the original fort literally washes away. Throughout the fort's history the military has sought ways to keep the fort's earthworks intact by preventing livestock and people from climbing the earthen mounds., As a new unit of the National Park Service in 1933, the government had to balance making the fort accessible to a greater number of visitors while preserving the historic earthworks. As part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal" program to create jobs amid the mass unemployment of the Great Depression, laborers from the Works Progress Administration restored much of the old fort. During August of 1938 they laid thousands of feet of brick pathways that are still in use today., You can help prevent erosion by staying on the brick walkways and not climbing the grassy earthworks.,

Persons are not permitted to walk on the slopes. Animals not permitted to graze on the slopes… , Fort McHenry inspection report, April, 1870