Fort Halifax (Maine)
Fort Halifax | |
Location | On U.S. 201 west of Winslow, Maine |
---|---|
Coordinates | 44°32′23″N 69°37′47″W / 44.5396°N 69.6297°W |
Built | 1754-1755 |
NRHP reference No. | 68000015 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 24, 1968 |
Designated NHL | October 18, 1968 |
Fort Halifax is a former
French and Indian War
Fort Halifax was a fort on the north bank of the
Fort Richmond was dismantled in 1755 when Fort Shirley (named after William Shirley, also called Frankfort, located in present-day Dresden), Fort Western and Fort Halifax were built upriver.
In 1754, Fort Halifax was built by order of the
The Natives raided the fort in the fall of 1754.[8][9]
In 1755, the commanding officer, Captain William Lithgow, discontinued Major-General Winslow's original plan for the fort, citing limited manpower and expense. The fort was made smaller and more defensible and was completed in 1756.[10] The Canadiens and Natives immediately made plans to destroy the fort.Brodhead, John Romeyn (1858). Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 10. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co. pp. 277, 291. In May 1756, the natives attacked soldiers from the fort.[11]
In 1756, near Topshee, Col Lithgow and a party of 8 men were ambushed by 17 natives, both sides suffering the loss of two men. The natives later killed two more white men in the area.[12] The fort was abandoned in 1766, and was sold into private hands.[5]
American Revolution
In September 1775, Fort Halifax hosted troops under Colonel Benedict Arnold on their expedition to Quebec City. At the end of the American Revolution, most of Fort Halifax was dismantled. By the early 19th century, only the blockhouse on the Sebasticook still stood. Later in the century, tourists visited the fort, especially railway passengers and students from Colby College. These guests carved chunks of wood from the blockhouse as souvenirs.[13]
19th - 20th Century
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ownership of Fort Halifax blockhouse changed hands numerous times. The structures of the fort deteriorated, and eventually everything except the surviving blockhouse was demolished.[5] From 1924 to 1966, the Fort Halifax Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution owned the blockhouse and was responsible for its upkeep.[14] The DAR turned the property over to the state in 1966. The town purchased the property surrounding the blockhouse in 1976 and 1982, with the plan to rehabilitate the area and develop a park.[15]
On April 1, 1987, a severe flood dismantled the blockhouse. Twenty-two original logs were recovered, some of them found as far south as forty miles. The blockhouse was reconstructed on its original site in 1988. That fall, the rebuilt blockhouse was dedicated in a ceremony that drew hundreds of guests.[10][16]
The Town of Winslow in 2011 drafted plans to rebuild some of the fort and to expand and improve interpretive displays, trails, and recreational opportunities at the site.[15]
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Kennebec County, Maine
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Maine
Notes
- ^ "Sprague's journal of Maine history". 1913.
- ^ a b "Fort Halifax State Historic Site". Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Zachary M. Bennett, “A Means of Removing Them Further From Us’: The Struggle for Waterpower on New England’s Eastern Frontier,” New England Quarterly 90, no. 4 (2017): 540–60.
- ^ "Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Maine". National Park Service. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Polly M. Rettig, Charles W. Snell (January 31, 1976). "Fort Halifax Blockhouse". National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form. National Park Service. and accompanying three photos, exterior, from 1975 and 1988
- ^ p. 215, p.225
- ^ "Documents relative to the colonial history of the state of New-York : Procured in Holland, England, and France". 1853.
- ^ "Documentary history of the state of Maine". Portland.
- ^ p. 302
- ^ a b Maine Memory Network Exhibit - Fort Halifax
- ^ The History of Augusta, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time ... By James W. North p.66
- ^ p.5
- ^ Fort Halifax: One Stop on the Way to Quebec
- ^ Deed for Fort Halifax, from Daughters of the American Revolution to State of Maine (1966)
- ^ a b Fort Halifax Park Concept Master Plan (2011)
- ^ Fort Halifax on the Kennebec - Northern Outpost for the Massachusetts Bay Colony
References
Further reading
- Tortora, Daniel J. (2014). Fort Halifax: Winslow's Historic Outpost. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press. ISBN 978-1626192928.
External links
- Fort Halifax State Historic Site Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. ME-55, "Fort Halifax, U.S. Route 201, Winslow, Kennebec County, ME", 2 photos, 13 measured drawings, 4 data pages