Ussher Fort

Ussher Fort is a 17th-century European fort in James Town, Accra, on the High Street (Prof. Atta Mills High St), roughly 500 metres past Fort James and close to the Central Business District. It was built by the Dutch as Fort Crèvecoeur, shattered by an earthquake, and transferred to the English in 1868, when it was partly reconstructed and renamed after the British administrator instrumental in the Exchange of Territories that year. It later served as a prison until 1993; Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, was imprisoned there during the colonial era.

Today the fort houses the Ussher Fort Museum, opened in 2007 and developed by Ghana's Ministry of Tourism with the European Union and UNESCO, along with the offices of the Monuments Division of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. The museum addresses the history of the slave trade in Ghana through wall paintings and displays of articles used by captors and victims, including shackles, weaponry, clay drinking cups, large grinding stones, a model of a slave vessel, and images of abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.

The site is one of 28 components of the serial World Heritage property "Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions", inscribed in 1979. It also appears on the Mutual Heritage List established jointly by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and The Netherlands Department of Conservation.

Published opening hours are Monday to Saturday, including public holidays, from 9:00am to 4:30pm; the site is closed on Sunday. Visitors should note that GMMB closed five forts, including Ussher Fort, on 18 December 2025 for essential maintenance, safety assessments and conservation. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts announced the immediate reopening of Ussher Fort and James Fort on 22 December 2025, with strict access controls, while three other sites remained shut. Opening hours may therefore be affected by ongoing conservation work, and it is worth confirming access before travelling.

The fort's coordinates place it in James Town, within the Accra Metropolitan Area of the Greater Accra Region. General enquiries about the site can be directed to the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, whose offices are at 2 Barnes Road, Adabraka, Accra.