Star Fort Powder Magazine

The powder magazine is located right in the middle of the fort, making it convenient yet dangerous.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Baltimore, MD

Significance:

The storage location for the gun powder for the fort.

Amenities

5 listed

Accessible Rooms, Accessible Sites, Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible

The powder magazine historically held all the gun powder necessary to maintain the fort's fire power. This large one room building has a dome shaped roof to help prevent enemy shells and shrapnel from directly hitting the roof. The magazine had not been made bombproof yet by 1814, however, and disaster almost struck when a British bomb hit the structure during the bombardment of Fort McHenry. Luckly the bomb did not explode and thus the fort's gunpowder supply did not explode with it.

Shortly after the battle the structure was made bombproof, thickening its walls with a layer of dirt and then and additional layer of bricks. Additionally after the battle, Major Armistead ordered other powder magazines to be built to spread out the fort's powder supply and prevent the possibility of a disaster occuring. Today visitors can enter the powder magazine to see a repleca of how the inside would have looked while the fort was active.