President Trump signs bill naming Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie national parks

CHARLESTON, SC (WMBF) – Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie are officially national parks after President Donald Trump signed a public lands bill into law this week.

Previously national monuments, the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act establishes the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park.

According to information from U.S. Sen. Tim Scott’s office, the act also revamps protections and preservation of the sites and has the potential to enhance local economic opportunities for the surrounding areas through increased tourism and visitation.

On Friday, Scott will host a press conference in Charleston’s Liberty Square at 10:30 a.m. to celebrate the passage of the act, which also establishes the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in Beaufort County.

Fort Sumter, located in Charleston Harbor, is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. The Sullivan’s Island-based Fort Moultrie was still incomplete when it was attacked by the British in June 1776, according to information from the National Parks Service.