Arriving at Ft. Monroe, we found our docents waiting at the south sally port, as promised. We were divided into two groups – walked across the moat and went into historic Ft. Monroe for a very interesting walking tour of the grounds, including the Casemate Museum and the Chapel of the Centurion, a centuries old inter-denominational church with beautiful stained-glass windows.

After some time from high atop the Fort’s south wall, Navy League members spotted a James River Bus approaching the Fort to take us to our next stop, the Mariner’s Museum.

A phone call was made en route to the museum and, on arrival, our pre-ordered lunch was waiting in our private lunch room.

After lunch, it was a “tour on your own” of the museum and the brand new Monitor Center – a $30 million dollar project, opened in March this year.

The Monitor Center is filled with artifacts and two replicas of the Monitor turret. On our visit, we had a very good view of the actual turret, usually in a tank filled with water, but today, the tank was drained for work. One movie theater showed the Battle of Hampton Roads and the recovery of the turret off the Outer Banks in North Carolina.