Fort Monroe National Monument is in Hampton, Virginia. Fort Monroe served as a United States Army post from about 1820 to 2011. The historic fort stands on Old Point Comfort at the mouth of the James River, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of Norfolk. It overlooks the entrance to Hampton Roads, a channel that empties into Chesapeake Bay.
Engineers began building a fort there in 1819, although the site had been fortified as early as 1609. In 1832, the post was named Fort Monroe, after President James Monroe. The American poet Edgar Allan Poe served at Fort Monroe before he entered West Point. Robert E. Lee supervised construction of the walled fort in the early 1830’s. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was imprisoned at Fort Monroe for two years after the American Civil War ended in 1865. In the late 1900’s, the fort became the home of a command that trained soldiers and developed weapons systems. The original fort is still surrounded by a moat. After Fort Monroe closed in 2011, President Barack Obama declared the site a national monument. For its area, see National Park System (table: National monuments) .
