Similar Brimstone Hill Fortress, Bloody Point, Berkeley Memorial, Romney Manor, Independence Square | ||
Fort Charles is a historic British colonial fort (est. 1670) site on the island of St. Kitts, located in the present day nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.
History
It was built on a suitable site, as ships were often becalmed beneath it, when making for Sandy Point Road. It was named after King Charles II, who gave £500 to assist the British sugar cane plantations.
The 1690 capture of Fort Charles by the French Caribbean forces was the reason for the construction of the Brimstone Hill Fortress above it, a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site which overlooks this site.
Charles Fort was a military post from 1670 until it was abandoned in 1854. Some forty years later in 1890 it was used as a Hansen Home leper asylum. Hansen Home was closed in 1996.
The fort is now in ruins, completely abandoned and overgrown with tropical vegetation.