Fort Kent (fort)

Significant dates

Fort Kent
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Fort Kent in 1973
Show map of Maine Show map of the US
Nearest city	Fort Kent, Maine
Coordinates	47°15′9″N 68°35′27″W / 47.25250°N 68.59083°W / 47.25250; -68.59083Coordinates: 47°15′9″N 68°35′27″W / 47.25250°N 68.59083°W / 47.25250; -68.59083
Built	1839
NRHP Reference #	69000005
Added to NRHP	December 1, 1969^[1]
Designated NHL	November 7, 1973^[2]

Fort Kent State Historic Site is a Maine state park in the town of Fort Kent, Maine. Located at the confluence of the Fish and Saint John Rivers, it includes Fort Kent, the only surviving American fortification built during border tensions with neighboring New Brunswick known as the Aroostook War. The fort was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.^[2]^[3] The park features an original log blockhouse,^[4] which is open for visits in the summer.^[5]

Description

Fort Kent stands on a slight rise overlooking the Saint John River, just west of the mouth of the Fish River. The Saint John is in this area part of the Canada–United States border, and the region on both sides of the river was until the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty territory disputed by both the United States and the United Kingdom, of which New Brunswick was then a colonial province.^[3]

All that remains of Fort Kent is a blockhouse, two stories in height, measuring 23 feet 5 inches (7.14 m) square. It is built out of hand-hewn cedar timbers, and has an overhanging second story and a pyramidal roof. Each side of the roof is pierced by a gabled dormer. The main entrance faces west, and is flanked by four rifle ports on the first floor, and there are twelve rifle ports on the first floor of each of the other three sides. On the second floor, which hangs 15 inches (0.38 m) over the first, there are eleven rifle ports on the east and west sides, and fifteen on the north and south sides. There are two cannon ports on the first floor north and south sides. The interior has been modestly disturbed to install heating and plumbing, and to provide for museum displays.^[3]

History

The boundary between Maine and New Brunswick was a recurring subject of disagreement following the 1783 Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the United States. Part of the eastern border was fixed after the Jay Treaty of 1797, but the upper Saint John River area remained disputed. Both Maine and New Brunswick pressed development of the area to solidify their claims, but this consequently raised tensions beginning in the 1820s, with authorities from each government acting against the other's settlers and agents.^[3]

Construction of Fort Kent, named for Governor Edward Kent, was begun 1838 as tensions reached their height. It was one of a series of forts built by the state along the southern banks of the Saint John River, and is the only one surviving. (The blockhouse at Fort Fairfield is a 20th-century reconstruction.)^[6]

In 1839 the arrest of a US government agent in New Brunswick prompted Congress to authorize 50,000 federal troops for assignment to northern Maine. At this time the fort was enlarged to include barracks officers' quarters, and other buildings. General Winfield Scott was sent to the area with power to negotiate a settlement. Scott and New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor John Harvey, who had a long-established friendship, were able to successfully reduce tensions until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was negotiated in 1842.^[3]^[7]

After the crisis passed, the fort was sold into private hands. In 1891 the property was sold to the state of Maine for the purpose of establishing a park. The state did no substantive work on the site until 1959, when the historic site was formally established. The museum is now maintained by the Fort Kent Historical Society.^[3]

Vandalism

Fort Kent has been subject to numerous incidents of vandalism in recent history. Most notably in 1977 when the fort was almost burned down when an unidentified individual etched the phrase "Jeano was Here" into the exterior of the upper terrace using a portable torch. Although no arrests were made, officials believed it was a resident of the nearby town of Fort Kent. In 2010 the National Park Services removed over 500 lbs of shredded paper that vandals used to fill the interior of the Fort. This resulted in the fort being closed to the public for almost a month.

Notes and references

↑ National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
1 2 "Fort Kent". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Ben Levy (April 13, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Fort Kent State Memorial / Fort Kent" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying three photos, exterior, historic (undated) and from 1973 (32 KB)
↑ The blockhouse at Fort Fairfield is a reconstruction.
↑ http://www.forttours.com/pages/fortkent.asp
↑ "Side Trips:Fort Fairfield Block House Preserves Era of Conflict in Northern Maine". Maine PBN. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
↑ "Biography of John Harvey". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2015-02-15.

External links

Fort Kent State Historic Site - official site
Fort Kent Blockhouse - information from the National Park Service

Protected areas of Maine

Federal

National Parks and Historic Sites	Acadia National Park Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Saint Croix Island International Historic Site

National Wildlife Refuges	Aroostook Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area Cross Island Franklin Island Moosehorn Petit Manan Pond Island Rachel Carson Seal Island Sunkhaze Meadows

National Forests	White Mountain

National Trails	Appalachian Trail

National Estuarine Research Reserves	Wells

State

State Parks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Aroostook Baxter Birch Point Bradbury Mountain Camden Hills Cobscook Bay Crescent Beach Damariscotta Lake Ferry Beach Fort Point Grafton Notch Holbrook Island Sanctuary Lake St. George Lamoine Lilly Bay Moose Point Mount Blue Peacock Beach Peaks-Kenny Penobscot River Corridor Popham Beach Quoddy Head Range Ponds Rangeley Lake Reid Roque Bluffs Shackford Head Sebago Lake Swans Falls Campground Swan Lake Two Lights Vaughan Woods Warren Island Wolfe's Neck Woods

State Historic Sites	Bible Point Colburn House Colonial Pemaquid Eagle Island Fort Baldwin Fort Edgecomb Fort Halifax Fort Kent Fort Knox Fort McClary Fort O'Brien John Paul Jones Katahdin Iron Works Mayall Mills Whaleback Shell Midden

State Forests	Durham State Forest

Maine Department of Conservation (web)

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types

Lists by states	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands

Lists by associated states	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau

Other areas	District of Columbia Morocco

Portal WikiProject

Saint John River Watershed

Tributaries	Allagash River Aroostook River Baker Branch Saint John River Becaguimec Stream Big Black River Birch River Blackwater River Campbell Branch Little Black River River De Chute Daaquam River Fish River Hammond River Jemseg River Kennebecasis River Keswick River Little Black River Little Machias River Little Madawaska River Little River Little Saint Roch River Little Southwest Branch Saint John River Machias River Madawaska River Meduxnekeag River Musquacook Stream Nashwaak River Nerepis River North Branch Birch River North Branch Blackwater River North Branch Meduxnekeag River Northwest Branch Saint John River Oromocto River Red River Saint Croix Stream Saint Francis River Shields Branch South Branch Birch River South Branch Blackwater River South Branch Machias River South Branch Meduxnekeag River Southwest Branch Saint John River Tobique River West Branch Little Black River

Lakes	Baker Lake Beau Lake Chemquasabamticook Lake Churchill Lake Clear Lake Cross Lake Eagle Lake (Allagash R.) Eagle Lake (Fish R.) Fish River Lake Glazier Lake Grand Lake Long Lake Mactaquac Lake Millinocket Lake Mud Lake Munsungan Lake Musquacook Lakes Lake Pohenegamook Portage Lake Saint Froid Lake Saint John Ponds Scopan Lake Square Lake Umsaskis Lake

Towns	Allagash Ashland Blaine Bridgewater Caribou Eagle Lake Easton Edmundston Florenceville-Bristol Fort Fairfield Fort Kent Fredericton Frenchville Grand Bay–Westfield Grand Falls Grand Isle Hampton Hartland Hodgdon Houlton Lac-Frontière Limestone Littleton Madawaska Mapleton Mars Hill Masardis Monticello Nackawic New Limerick Oromocto Perham Perth-Andover Pohénégamook Portage Lake Presque Isle Quispamsis Rivière-Bleue Rothesay Sainte Agatha Saint-Camille-de-Lellis Saint-Cyprien Saint Francis Saint John Saint-Just-de-Bretenières Saint-Léonard Saint-Marcel Saint-Pamphile Saint-Zacharie Stockholm Sussex Van Buren Washburn Westfield Woodstock

Landmarks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Clair–Fort Kent Bridge Edmundston–Madawaska Bridge Florenceville Bridge Fort Kent Hartland Bridge North Maine Woods Reversing Falls Saint John Harbour Bridge Saint John River High Level Crossing Saint Leonard–Van Buren Bridge Tinker Dam Watson Settlement Bridge

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.