Mathews County is ready to proceed with construction of an interpretive historical park at Fort Nonsense and is now accepting bids for a contractor to complete the work.

Frank Lansinger of the Mathews County Historical Society said he expects construction to begin around Nov. 12.

Construction will consist of clearing trees off the redoubts to show the structure of the fort and installing a picnic area with a shelter, a parking area and pathways. All will be handicapped accessible, said Lansinger. He said there will be no bulldozing and that trees will be cut off at ground level to preserve the earthworks.

The Civil War Trails program will build and install interpretive signs, said Lansinger, using text provided by Peninsula historian John Quarstein. He said that having the fort on the Civil War Trails network will attract visitors to the county.

But perhaps the most important function of the park, said Lansinger, will be to educate Mathews students about their local history and satisfy an SOL requirement to study the Civil War.

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