This large, open area near the barracks served as the parade ground, with some soldiers living in huts along its edges. Soldiers assembled here daily for training, drills, and inspection. On the parade, Oglethorpe’s Regiment marched in military formation, with orders sounded on the drum and fife, and sharpened their skills with muskets, bayonets, and grenades. Nearby stood a bomb magazine, a small building designed to store and protect more than 3,000 artillery shells. The magazine mysteriously exploded on March 22, 1744, alarming the townspeople but causing little damage, and the building no longer exists.