On the outskirts of Charleston, SC hidden in plain site is a lost and forgotten national park. Castle Pinckney is currently being lost to the sea in the Charleston Harbor. The story of this forgotten fortress began in 1791, when George Washington visited Charleston, South Carolina , saw that a little island in the harbor (Shutes Folly) was strategically located, and ordered that a fort be built there. The good people of Charleston, who were tasked with funding and building it, decided that it should be named Fort Pinckney in honor of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney , a local planter, Revolutionary War General, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Castle Pinckney played no role in the War of 1812 and was demoted to “secondary line of defense” status in 1826. The very next year, the construction of Fort Sumter , a bigger and better fortification, got underway at a more strategic location across from Fort Moultrie at the harbor entrance. By the late 1820s it was a...