National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

The construction of Castle Pinckney was begun in 1809 on Shutes Folly Island in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Designed by Jonathan Williams, the first superintendent of the United States Military Academy, it remains one of only three surviving American "castles", a rare form of circular fort based on French precedents. In February 2011 a comprehensive documentation project of Castle Pinckney was undertaken by a team from the Historic American Buildings Survey, consisting of architects Paul Davidson and Mark Schara, photographer James Rosenthal, and historian Gigi Price. The HABS team was assisted by students from the Master of Science in Historic Presrvation program at Clemson University / College of Charleston, under the direction of Professor Ashley Robbins Wilson. The animation of Castle Pinckney was prepared by Paul Davidson using the point clouds obtained from 12 scan stations, and rendered in Pointools with high dynamic range panoramic photography.