While in the Tampa area we visited the site of a fort that was built, used briefly and then abandoned during the 1830s.  Fort Foster was along a river that was necessary to provide supplies and men to various places in the area.  There was a massacre by the Seminole Indians at Fort Foster and all but two white men were killed.  One of the two survivors wrote a book which is how the story of the massacre and life at Fort Foster became known.  More men arrived at Fort Foster afterwards and the Seminole were driven further south, but a lot of men got ill during their time at Fort Foster and it was decided that the “air was bad” so the fort was burned and abandoned.  The fort has been rebuilt and is a local tour attraction now.  During the tour that we were on there was a boy about 9 years old who asked a lot of questions – one was about a very low structure within the fort, he asked if it was a dog house and what kind of dog would need such a big house!  Actually that low structure was the black powder storehouse (could be explosive if there was a fire).  We also learned that one of the requirements to be in the army back in the 1830s was to have “two opposing teeth”.  Apparently a lot of men back then had few if any teeth, and to load your gun you took a little paper package containing the black powder and ball, tore it with your teeth and then poured it into your gun.  If you didn’t have at least two opposing teeth you couldn’t tear the package and had to put down what you were holding to do it with your hands, and in that length of time you could be killed!

Here are a few photos we took: