Fort Sumter Tour Boat Facility
Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina

The stone fortress at Fort Sumter, an important Civil War site, has been preserved by the National Park Service. Because the fort is located on an island, Charleston needed a waterfront facility from which to operate tour boats for visitors. JFSA supplied design and construction services for the dockside visitor center built on a pier in the Cooper River.

The tour boat facility had to match Charleston's historic architecture, withstand severe environmental conditions characteristic of seafront locations, provide an efficient marine operations center, and function as a museum for artifacts from the famous Civil War battle.

The completed building is a two-story steel structure of 7,800 square feet, with a concrete first floor set 14 feet above the pier surface on concrete columns. The columns and elevator shaft were designed to withstand the effects of storm surge water levels. The upper-level framing was carefully braced to withstand hurricane winds up to 133 mph, and a zone 2A seismic region. Unique bracing details accommodate the large two-story open space adjacent to the partial second floor, as conceived by the Park Service.

The Fort Sumter Tour Boat Facility project received an Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies.

Client: National Park Service