Radio Script #860

Little Talks on Common Things
September 27, 1970

Most of the listeners to this program are familiar with the two ancient Kennebec forts, Fort Halifax at Winslow and Fort Western at Augusta. There are other Maine forts of historic significance that deserve attention, and I want to tell you about some of them today.

Old Fort McClary at Kittery Point remains only as a single blockhouse. Unlike the remains at Fort Halifax, however, the blockhouse is not the original structure, but restored as a perfect replica of the original one, which was put up with the fort in 1690, sixty-four years before our Fort Halifax was built. It was at first called Pepperell’s Fort, honoring the region’s most distinguished family, then (after enlargement and repair in the mid-eighteenth century) was renamed Fort William, to honor Sir William Pepperell, the conqueror of the French fortress at Louisburg on Cape Breton. During the American Revolution it was repaired again and given the name Fort McClary. The last time the fort was garrisoned was during the Civil War.

At Scarborough, old Fort Josselyn is entirely gone, but a marker notes the place where it stood during King Philip’s War in the late years of the 17th century. Structures sometimes called forts, but actually only small single buildings, often surrounded by a stockade, stood all along the coast from Kittery to Portland during the troublesome Indian wars from 1670 until the end of the French and Indian War nearly a hundred years later. Built as early as 1645, there still stands such a garrison house, as the structures were called, at York. Made of massive timbers with an overhanging second story, having small paned windows and a wide-mouthed chimney, it is an historical reminder of the refuge to which settlers fled on news of impending Indian attack.

Many forts were built near Portland. From the earliest settlements there and at Cape Elizabeth, it seemed best to try to protect the towns from attack by sea. Hence forts were built on the islands of Casco Bay, but the larger fortifications did not come until the end of the 18th century. The forts still standing in Portland Harbor began with Fort Sumner in 1794 and Fort Preble in 1810. Fort McKinley came even later. Fort Gorges on Hog Island was built near the close of the Civil War in 1865. On the mainland of Portland was Fort Allen on the Eastern Promenade. Old garrison houses on the mainland there began as early as 1661 with Fort Scammel. At Brunswick there stood Fort Andros, near where the Cabot Mills were later built. The old fort guarded the town from attacking ships coming up from Merrymeeting Bay, and it was erected as early as 1688.

One of Maine’s best known larger forts is Fort Popham, near the mouth of the Kennebec. The present structure was built during the Civil War, but its site is rich in the history of our state. Near this spot Sir John Popham in 1607 established what was intended to be the first permanent settlement in British America. Started actually a few months earlier than the colony at Jamestown, a series of accidents and hardships forced abandonment of the Popham venture after a single year, and it was not until 12 years later, in 1620, that the Pilgrims made the first permanent New England settlement at Plymouth. Modern Fort Popham, with its semi-circle of arched granite walls, was last manned during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Not far east from Fort Popham is Fort Edgecomb, just off Route 1, in the community of North Edgecomb, across the river from Wiscasset. No other original blockhouse in the state is in better preservation, although it was built 162 years ago in 1808. Attracting hundreds of visitors every summer is Fort William Henry at Pemaquid. Recent archeological excavations and exhibits of the result of that digging have given nation-wide attention to this ancient Maine settlement. The present fort was never manned. It is actually a modern restoration of the last garrisoned structure on the site, and is now a museum, where the visitor may examine Indian relics, old deeds, weapons and early household implements. Long before permanent settlement was made at Pemaquid, the region was a regular stopping place for European fishermen to dry their fish caught in Maine waters.

In Governor Bradford’s account of the Plymouth Colony, he states that in the spring of 1621 they sent their shallop to Pemaquid for supplies. That certainly would not have been done if Bradford had not expected his men to find fellow Englishmen there. And sure enough, as Bradford duly recorded, there they were, with their ships anchored nearby while on racks on the mainland were their fish drying. Today we have good reason to believe that European fishermen regularly came to Monhegan Island and Pemaquid at least 100 years before Columbus’ famous voyage.

One of the early proprietors and leading settler at Pemaquid was Abraham Shurte who erected in 1630 a garrison house known as Shurte’s Fort. The very next year the place was attacked and looted by the pirate, Dixie Bull. Shurte’s Fort stood until King Philip’s War, when its destruction caused Governor Andros to order the erection there of Fort Charles. Then at the rather impressive cost of $20,000, in 1692, Fort William Henry was built. Cotton Mather called it “the finest fort in these parts of America”. It was a Maine-born man, Sir William Phipps, who as the Massachusetts royal governor ordered Fort William Henry to be built. Under a French attack led by Baron Caston, Fort William Henry, despite its heavy cost, proved not strong enough to resist the French bomb shells. Its successor, built on the same site, was called Fort Frederick, in honor of the then Prince of Wales. During the Revolution the Americans leveled it, lest it fall into British hands. The present structure was erected by the State of Maine using stone and other materials of the older forts.

At Thomaston stood old Fort St. George, protecting the Waldo Patent. It withstood numerous attacks during the Indian wars. Maine’s largest existing fort is Fort Knox on the Penobscot River at Prospect, near Bucksport. With its thick walls of Mt. Waldo granite, it covers an expansive area. Its huge gun emplacements and its underground rooms make it a most impressive structure. It was built in 1838 as part of Maine’s bloodless Aroostook War. The long border dispute with Great Britain over the line between Maine and Canada seemed about to lead to armed conflict, so Fort Knox was erected to prevent British attack on Bangor and other Penobscot towns.

No Maine town is richer in history than Castine. It has the only remaining Revolutionary fort, actually erected not by the Americans, but by the British. The Revolution had indeed been waging for four years when the British holders of Castine built Fort George, the ramparts of which still stand near the Maine Maritime Academy.

Another Revolutionary fort, this one erected by Americans, was at Machias. It was first called Fort O’Brien, in honor of the local patriot, Jeremiah O’Brien. It saw service during the Revolution, but was captured by the British in the War of 1812 and partly destroyed. Rebuilt, it was last garrisoned during the Civil War. During the long dispute over our Canadian boundary, other forts were built in Aroostook. Two of their names survive in the modern town names of Fort Fairfield and Fort Kent, each named for a Maine governor who played a big role in that long dispute.

So, if you have a yen to visit Maine’s old fortified places, you can still find plenty of them.

More than once on this program I have referred to Kennebec ice. Recently I came across an old bill of lading for a shipment of ice out of Gardiner almost 100 years ago in 1872. That you may understand how Maine’s white gold was transported in the halcyon days of Kennebec ice, let me give you the exact words of this old document: “Shipped in good order by the Knickerbocker Ice Co. of Philadelphia, on board the schooner Hattie Page, H. Haley master, now lying in the port of Gardiner, Maine, and bound for Philadelphia at William Street Wharf, Delaware River. Three hundred and sixty-nine tons of ice.

“It is understood and agreed as follows: 1. that in case of average, said ice is to be of value of $6 a ton, as soon as the vessel has left the wharf where she is loaded; 2. that the hold of the vessel where the ice is placed shall not be opened or exposed to the air, unless by stress of weather or wants of the vessel, in which case due protest shall be made and an account kept of all ice thrown overboard in case of jetson; 3. that the vessel shall be regularly pumped out during the voyage, so that the ice or fitting materials may not be unnecessarily wasted; 4. that no fish or meat shall be placed in or with the ice without consent of the shipper. All is to be delivered in good order and condition, excepting what may be lost by natural waste, at the aforesaid port of Philadelphia (the danger of the seas only excepted) to the Knickerbocker Ice Co., they paying freight for the said ice, with average accustomed at the rate of $1.25 per ton, the cargo to be discharged to the Knickerbocker Ice Co. with the assistance of the crew. Dated at Gardiner, Maine, Sept. 11, 1872.”

As we close today’s broadcast, I want to tell you about another old document. It is a license as innkeeper issued to John Starbird of Fairfield in 1828. His inn stood on a part of the present property of the Good Will Home Association that houses the Hinckley school. Here is what the paper said: “John Starbird is hereby bound to pay to Nathan Fowler, treasurer of the town of Fairfield, the sum of $300 if said Starbird shall in any respect fail to conform to all rules and regulations fixed by the board that has granted him a license as an innholder and retailer of liquors in the town of Fairfield. If said Starbird shall in all respects so conform, this obligation shall be void; otherwise it shall be in full effect.”

It is interesting to note that, where the temperance advocate, Rev. George Hinckley, built his home and schools, there once stood an old Maine barroom.

Year: 1970