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Fort Carroll is an abandoned 19th-century military installation in the Patapsco River. Development proposals, both public and private, have fallen through over the years, and the island has been overrun by thousands of birds. But members of the family that owns Fort Carroll, a 3.45-acre island that lies southeast of the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge, still have hopes for it.

Maryland seeks historic status for Fort Carroll

By Arthur Hirsch, The Baltimore Sun

10:17 a.m. EDT, April 13, 2013

When she thinks of Fort Carroll, the abandoned 19th-century military installation in the Patapsco River, Beverly Eisenberg thinks of her grandfather — and of duckpin bowling balls.

She visited the six-sided artificial island as a little girl, just a few years after her grandfather bought the place in 1958 hoping to turn it into a destination with a slots casino, hotel and restaurants. He was making cast-iron facsimiles of the cannons that once armed the fort, and the cannons needed cannon balls — duckpin balls that she would paint black and set up at the guns to help Benjamin N. Eisenberg nurture a dream.

His casino plan ultimately ended foiled when a judge ruled that the abandoned fort is in Baltimore County, not Anne Arundel, where slots were legal at the time. Other development proposals, both public and private, fell through over the years, and the island has been overrun by thousands of birds. But members of the Eisenberg family still own Fort Carroll, a 3.45-acre island that lies southeast of the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge, and they still have hopes for it.

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