Last updated: December 12, 2023
Place
Fort Christiansvaern Barracks
NPS Photo: Kahle
Quick Facts
Location:
Fort Christiansvaern
No this is not a jail, the bars are simply here to keep the weary guest from napping, not that these bug infested beds are inviting. This is the barracks. The barracks held not 5 beds as you see now, but instead 22 beds. The soldiers would rest here and store a few comforts from home in a small box at the foot of the bed. These were young men, 18-26 years old, thousands of miles away from home. What mementos of their family and friends they left behind in Denmark can you imagine in this room?
After a day of service soldiers might have sat here, re-reading letters from loved ones they treasured away in these green boxes. With no access to the internet, computers or phones, we can assume they would have played various board games and cards, talked and laughed together, trying to keep jovial attitudes here in a foreign land.
Imagine the sounds echoed off these walls as the soldiers drifted off to sleep. The yellow crowned night heron, the changing of the guard, the crashing of the waves or the groans of the imprisoned below?
After a day of service soldiers might have sat here, re-reading letters from loved ones they treasured away in these green boxes. With no access to the internet, computers or phones, we can assume they would have played various board games and cards, talked and laughed together, trying to keep jovial attitudes here in a foreign land.
Imagine the sounds echoed off these walls as the soldiers drifted off to sleep. The yellow crowned night heron, the changing of the guard, the crashing of the waves or the groans of the imprisoned below?