Fort Elizabeth State Park

"Fun with the Family"

Upon arriving in town it may be surprising to see the remains of a Russian fort, here in the middle of almost nowhere. A sign points left to Fort Elizabeth State Park. In the early 1800s George Anton Schaffer, a visiting German doctor, constructed this fort and named it after Elizabeth, Czar Nicholas’s daughter. Schaffer believed the strategic location of these islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was an important factor for Russia to consider and wanted to turn the fort into a trading post. (There are a few other Russian forts still standing on Kauai.) Czar Nicholas never agreed with Schaffer, and the fort eventually fell into disrepair.
 
The fort was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966; in 1970 it was acquired by the state to be developed into a historic park, but there hasn’t been much activity to restore the structure.