The remains of the little colonial-era town of Dorchester, and its attendant fort, are the definition of "out-of-the-way." Located in the modern community of Summerville, about nine miles northwest of the city of Charleston on the Ashley River, one would not, shall we say, stumble upon Fort Dorchester by accident. Fortunately I always check Fortwiki.com before I head out on the road, because that excellent resource designates the location of just about every fortification in the United States and Canada, in convenient state and province maps.

Admission to Colonial Dorchester State Historic Park was $2 per adult (Deposit Envelope: Your Park Admission Helps Make Life Long Memories (a bold claim!)). The park comprises the well-signed Fort Dorchester, the scant remains of the wee town of Dorchester and a short trail leading to the Ashley River, which is the waterway that made this an attractive spot for English persons to build a fort and a town.

What's left of Fort Dorchester today is pretty minimal...it's a a small fort by any measure, but the vast majority of its original, tabby walls are still standing.

I've visited plenty of underwhelming little what's-left-of-a-fort locations, but Fort Dorchester absolutely exceeded my expectations! While one gets finished with the fort in a pretty big hurry as there isn't much of it, the rest of the park makes for a pleasant meander through the charmingly tropical-seeming-to-this-northerner's-eyes woods.

Pix of the informational signs I found at Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site are sprinkled through the text associated with each of the pictures in this gallery, but if you're the kind of weirdo who is only interested in such signs, you can see them by clicking on the links below:

A Chance to Learn Alligators Designed for Defense Fort Dorchester Networks of Trade		A Concrete Solution Clues of Wealth Dorchester Welcome Sign Linking Places and People The Bell Tower of St. George's
To Market, To Market And, just in case anyone is unfamiliar with how this works, each of the pix on this page are but a thumbnail of a larger image, affixed to which are further ruminations on my trip to Fort Dorchester. Read on!