How We Know What We Know
The basis for Fort Western Educational Programming and Tour Time-Line is "what makes the most reasonable and accurate historic interpretation. Good historical understanding is where written documentation, oral history, and material culture corroborate each other: Fort Western is lucky to have an abundance of all of the above. We have the original 1754 wooden garrison and 1920 blockhouses (patterned after the 1754 Fort Halifax blockhouse), five origin S & W Howard Account Books dating 1767-1807, and Howard family relics with accompanying oral history. From the Massachusetts archives, we have military correspondence, muster rolls for all four forts (Richmond, Shirley, Western, and Halifax), pertinent addresses to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and indents. From the Maine Historical Society, we have records of the Kennebec Proprietors. We have the archaeological collections with all associated documentation for the Pilgrims Trading Post at Cushnoc (1628-1676), Fort Richmond (1720-1755), Fort Frankfort (1754-1759); Fort Western (1754-1920); and Fort Halifax (1754-1766).
