Visitors to Fort Sumter are once again seeing educational signs addressing climate change, sea-level rise, and plastic pollution after signs removed earlier this year were restored following federal court action.
The climate change display at Fort Sumter explains how rising seas, coastal erosion, flooding, and storm surge threaten the historic island fort in Charleston Harbor. The display was based on National Park Service research and work with Western Carolina University examining the vulnerability of the site to a changing climate.
Signs encouraging visitors to reduce their use of single-use plastic water bottles were also removed from National Park Service locations in the Charleston area, including Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. Those signs have now returned as well.
The signs had been removed as part of a broader review of interpretive materials at National Park Service sites following a 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump and a subsequent order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The directives called for reviews of materials considered inconsistent with the administration’s standards for interpretation at federal historic and natural sites.
The removals became part of a federal lawsuit brought by conservation, historic preservation, and park advocacy organizations challenging changes to educational and interpretive materials across the National Park System.
In June, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Department of the Interior and National Park Service to restore materials that had been removed and halt additional removals while the case proceeded. A federal appeals court later stayed portions of that injunction while the appeal continues, meaning the larger legal dispute has not been finally resolved.
In Charleston, however, the signs are back.
A reporter visiting Fort Sumter on September 14 confirmed that the climate change display had been returned to its location near the dock, where visitors encounter it as they arrive at the historic fort. Plastic-reduction signs above water fountains at Charleston-area National Park Service sites have also been restored.
Why It Matters in the Lowcountry
For Charleston and the Lowcountry, the return of the climate information is particularly relevant.
Fort Sumter is not only one of the country’s most important historic sites; it sits on a small island in the middle of Charleston Harbor, directly exposed to tides, storms, erosion, and rising seas.
The restored display helps visitors understand that protecting historic places isn’t only about preserving the past. It also means understanding the environmental conditions that will determine whether those places survive into the future.
The plastic-reduction signs carry a much simpler message: individual choices can help reduce waste entering our waterways and oceans.
Whatever happens next in the larger court case, the return of these signs means visitors to Fort Sumter can once again encounter information about both the history of the fort and the environmental challenges affecting its future.
For a place surrounded by the waters of Charleston Harbor, those two stories are increasingly connected.
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