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Atlantic Beach in Carteret County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
 

Officers Quarters at Fort Macon

 
 
Officers Quarters at Fort Macon Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, August 16, 2014
1. Officers Quarters at Fort Macon Marker
Inscription. Following the end of the War Between the States Fort Macon returned to its peacetime status as one of the US Army’s military posts. During the last half of the 1860s a lack of suitable quarters for officers and their families became a serious concern at Fort Macon. As a result, in 1869, the Army dismantled four wood cottages at a camp at Goldsboro and shipped them to Fort Macon to be re-erected as officer quarters. These four cottages were rebuilt just outside the fort in 1870 and were used thereafter by officers and their families.

Each of the cottages was of wood frame construction, with a wide porch and an attached kitchen section. Inside were two rooms with high plaster walls on each side of a central hallway. The rooms on each side shared adjoining fireplaces.

The four officer quarters were used until Fort Macon was abandoned in 1903. The Army subsequently sold them and had them removed.

(sidebar)
Plan of the Fort Macon Officer Quarters

The uses of the rooms in this case are based on a letter from one of the officer’s wives in 1870. While the quarters were normally intended for only one officer and his family, it was not uncommon for more than one officer to share the quarters.

These four photographs taken at other military posts in the late 1800s are typical
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of what the interior of the officer quarters at Fort Macon must have looked like. To make the otherwise drab quarters pleasant an homey, officers and their families usually stocked them with their own furniture and family household items. They also decorated their quarters with other furnishings that might include curtains, decorative rugs and carpet, pictures suspended with cords, and bric-a-brac that was so popular in the Victorian era.

(clockwise) A typical parlor of an officer’s quarters.; An officer and his wife passing a quiet evening.; A servant girl at work in the kitchen of an officer’s quarters. Officers were allowed to hire servants to cook, clean, and do laundry. The servant might be an enlisted man detailed for the purpose, and enlisted man’s wife, or a local domestic.; A typical dining room of an officer’s quarters.

(captions)
(upper center) Front elevation of the Fort Macon Officer Quarters
(lower center) Side elevation of the Fort Macon Officer Quarters
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Forts and CastlesWar, US Civil. A significant historical year for this entry is 1869.
 
Location. 34° 41.825′ N, 76° 40.713′ W. Marker is in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, in Carteret County. Marker can be reached from East Fort Macon Road (County Route 1190) 3.6 miles
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east of Atlantic Beach Causeway (County Route 1182). The marker is on the grounds of the Fort Mason State Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2303 East Fort Macon Road, Atlantic Beach NC 28512, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle (within shouting distance of this marker); Bogue Banks Lighthouse (within shouting distance of this marker); Cistern (within shouting distance of this marker); The Military Post of Fort Macon in the Nineteenth Century (within shouting distance of this marker); World War II Barracks Area (within shouting distance of this marker); Fort Macon in the 1920s and 1930s (within shouting distance of this marker); World War II Defenses (within shouting distance of this marker); Fort Macon Coast Guard Station (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Atlantic Beach.
 
Also see . . .  Fort Macon State Park. N.C. Division of Parks & Recreation (Submitted on September 15, 2014.) 
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on September 12, 2014, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. This page has been viewed 353 times since then and 5 times this year. Photo   1. submitted on September 12, 2014, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024