Originally managed by the War Department, the monument was transferred to the National Park Service by President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 6166 on June 10, 1933.

According to an article from National Parks Traveler:

The Park Service acquired South Carolina’s Castle Pinckney National Monument in 1933, but was glad to see it abolished and transferred in the 1950s. Lacking a glorious past, and too expensive to restore, the old island fort now sits rotting in Charleston harbor.

It's main claim to fame is that it was the first federal property seized by the Confederacy following the secession of the southern states, being bloodlessly taken by the South Carolina militia seven days after the state's secession. After the war, the site was neglected, and "by 1890 the deterioration was so advanced that the fort was sealed, filled with sand, and prepared for use as a lighthouse foundation. "

Lacking necessary funds and any real incentive, the Park Service made no plans to preserve the property and develop it for public visitation. In 1951, Congress enacted legislation to abolish Castle Pinckney National Monument (which actually didn't go into effect until 1956) and transferred it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The site became something of a hot potato. In 1953, the Corps declared it "surplus property" and sought to transfer it to local control. It was tossed back to the NPS for a few years until it was officially abolished as a monument in 1956. From there, the history becomes even more ignoble, " the city of Charleston briefly considered building a sewage treatment plant on the island" in 1956, and in 1958 the South Carolina State Ports Authority bought the island from the federal government, "having decided that the property (with five additional acres) would be suitable for use as a dredge spoils disposal area. "

In the early 1960s, there was a small movement to "excavate and restore the fort as a state park and museum," but insufficient funding killed the plan.

The fort continued to be passed between various owners and stakeholders for decades. It was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1970, but there has been little else happening there. The expense of restoring a fort "in such an advanced state of deterioration" has prevented anything from happening there at all for well over a century...

Pruning the Parks: Castle Pinckney National Monument (1933 - 1956)

National Parks Traveler

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2009/10/pruning-parks-castle-pinckney-national-monument-1933-19564731

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