15 Ways to Explore Old Fort Western in Augusta Maine
On a quick layover in Augusta, Maine during our recent road trip, we had the opportunity to tour Old Fort Western, America’s oldest wooden French and Indian War era Garrison and a National Historic Landmark. The fort is very family friendly and has several hands-on opportunities kids will enjoy.
Located on the banks of the Kennebunk River, the original Garrison building (the largest structure on the property) was constructed in 1754, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, with open air windows and very small doors- the design visitors see today was restored in the early 1920s. The building housed a blacksmith shop, full service store for trading and purchasing, captain’s quarters, and barracks for soldiers. It was built by a Boston based company that wanted to take control of the area for their own trading and political gains. The area was an ideal location to ship supplies from Boston to the fort, and then unload and reroute supplies up the river to what was then known as Fort Halifax and is now called Winslow, Maine.
From 1755-1767 the fort was in commission and under the direction of Captain James Howard, who directed a unit of 24 men whose jobs included protecting the fort from attack, completing boat repairs, and helping to send supplies to Fort Halifax. The fort was decommissioned in 1767 and Captain Howard’s son, William, his wife, Martha, and their five children lived in the north end of the Garrison. The first floor of the Garrison became a land agency to purchase local land and then a store with items shipped from Boston. The store later grew in size and was moved down the road to a bigger space in 1807. The Garrison then became a tenement of several apartments in the mid 1850s.
The tenements lasted until 1919, when the buildings had deteriorated and became unlivable. The Gannett family, descendants of Captain Howard, asked the city to remove the tenants and relocate the stores also on the property so they could restore the property. It took two years to relocate the people, build the Blockhouses, and restore many elements of the property. The Gannett family then gifted the property to the city of Augusta to use as a museum, which opened in 1922. In the 1980s, several archaeological digs on the site unearthed over 17,000 artifacts, some dating back to the 1620s, which are on display throughout the property and are used to confirm the historical timeline of the property.
Today, visitors are invited to take guided tours of the fort and learn about the soldiers and families who defended the area and lived there for over two centuries. Our scavenger hunt will keep kids engaged while touring the complex and the whole family will enjoy learning about this important part of American history.
Travel Tips:
15 Ways to Explore Old Fort Western:
- Try your hand at wooden games such as Jacob’s Ladder, TicTacToe, and Ball in Cup outside the north Blockhouse.
- Listen to the story of Pilgrims who traveled up the Kennebec River to trade and see some of the artifacts dug up in the 1980s excavations, including fragments of glass bottles, pipes, beads, and kitchenware in the Cushnoc Trading Post.
- Peek down into the bateau, a large row boat that took six men to row and one man to steer up the Kennebec River, and the Powder Magazine, an 18 foot deep storage unit for gun powder that was discovered during the excavation in the 1980s and was recently rebuilt.
- Count the oars for the bateau hanging on the walls of the Blockhouse, built in 1922. The first floor of the Block House also has murals depicting the ships coming up the Kennebunk River from Boston.
- Pretend to fire a cannon from the second floor of the Blockhouse. There are four 4 pound cannons and a miniature one pound cannon on display ( one of the cannons is still fired every year on July 4th- 13 times for the 13 original colonies!). Learn the various ways to attack a ship or army with either a bar shot, chain shot, or shotgun shell. The cannons are covered every night with lambskin to protect them from rusting.
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- Look up purchases from one of five original account books in the store inside the Garrison, and see the list of who owed what and how they paid their debts. Try and read the cursive handwriting!
- Find the shoot inside the hearth of the kitchen in the Garrison. Servants would sweep ash from the hearth down the shoot, where it would mix in a barrel with water to form lye, which was used to make soap.
- See William Howard’s original desk, built in Cambridge Massachusetts in 1775, in the Eating Parlor (only for adults and well behaved children!) and the original 1799 chairs (a full set of 12 chairs donated by descendants of the family) in the Best Parlor of the Garrison. Peek inside the Best Parlor closet, which stored some of the 144 tablecloths that were listed on the home’s inventory.
- Find the octant and ship’s compass in Captain Howard’s bedroom on the second floor of the Garrison.
- See a walking wheel, a flax wheel, and paddle tape loom in Aunt Margaret’s Chamber on the second floor of the Garrison, used for making clothes and textiles.
- Learn about the technique of tightening the ropes of the bed in Martha’s Chamber. Martha and three of her five children died in 1786 from the flu and scarlet fever.
- Count the total number of fireplaces in the Garrison (hint: it’s over a dozen!). There is still one working fireplace that staff uses for special events and school programs.
- See a recreated tenement from the 1880s where the Day family (Thomas, his wife Adelaide, and their three children) lived in a two room apartment on the second floor of the Garrison.
- Learn how to weave various patterns on a large barn loom in the Age of Homespun Room.
- Check the weekly calendar for a demonstration: There is often a blacksmith demonstration on the weekends and a monthly weaving demonstration using the looms in the Garrison.
Looking for other living history museums in New England? Check out our features of Old Sturbridge Village in MA, Hancock Shaker Village in MA, Canterbury Shaker Village in NH, and Mystic Seaport in CT.
Disclosure: We were given a media pass to tour Old Fort Western; all opinions expressed are my own.
