| Fort Fisher State Recreation Area | |
|---|---|
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  Location of Fort Fisher State Recreation Area in North Carolina  Fort Fisher State Recreation Area (the United States) | |
| Location | New Hanover, North Carolina, United States |
| Coordinates | 33°57′15″N 77°55′47″W / 33.95417°N 77.92972°W |
| Area | 287 acres (116 ha)[1] |
| Established | 1986 |
| Named for | Fort Fisher |
| Operator | North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation |
| Website | Fort Fisher State Recreation Area |
Fort Fisher State Recreation Area is a 287-acre (1.16 km2)[1] North Carolina state park in New Hanover County, North Carolina in the United States. Located near Kure Beach, North Carolina, it includes Fort Fisher, site of a major naval engagement during the American Civil War. The recreation area also served as a home for the Fort Fisher Hermit, Robert Harrill. Harrill lived in a bunker and shared his beliefs about "common sense" with thousands of visitors every year while surviving on what he could gather from the surrounding salt marsh and oyster beds.
Today, the recreation area consists of the remains of the earthen Fort Fisher and a museum at Fort Fisher State Historic Site, an oceanfront beach pavilion, a large lagoon popular with windsurfers, and a long stretch of beach that is accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles. The beach is an important nesting ground for sea turtles, and state park rangers regularly patrol the beach to identify recently built turtle nests. Once they are identified, they are clearly marked and surrounded with a mesh fence to prevent vehicles from driving over the eggs. The openings in the mesh are large enough to allow newly hatched turtles to pass through and return to the sea.