In 1775 the Benedict Arnold's expedition stopped here long enough to build bateaux. Arnold, Daniel Morgan, Roger Enos, and Aaron Burr stayed as guest in the garrison, while their force camped outside. Fort Western was viewed as the jump off of their march through the wilderness.
Old Fort Western
Today the fort still stands, the oldest log fort in the United States. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is owned by the city of Augusta. The fort and store are maintained as a museum, and are open to the public during the summer months.
External link
The Old Fort Western web site (http://www.oldfortwestern.org/)
FortWestern served the first two decades of its life as an edge-of-the-wilderness outpost for British soldiers and for many years after that as a trading post and home to one of the first European families to settle central Maine.
Today the fort is restored to its late 18th century use by the Howards as a private home and trading post, based on diaries by family members and the 1799 probate records of one of his sons.
While the fort itself is not a destination attraction, there's plenty else for old-house aficionados in the vicinity: Augusta offers many fine examples of Federal and Victorian architecture, as well as the 19th century state capitol building.
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