Archaeologists Find Colonial Fort Under River Road in Windham
The Bangor Daily News reports that a team of archaeologists have just a few weeks left to continue their dig at a portion of River Road in Windham that is due to be widened and paved in the next month or so.
According to the story, historians have believed the fort was there but digging for it under River Road was impossible since the street was paved back in the 1920s, but now that an improvement project is underway, they have found remains of the fort.
BDN says the colonial era frontier fort was built as about 60 settlers from Marblehead, Massachusetts were granted land in that area, now known as Windham. In 1734, they called the land New Marblehead and began plotting out farm lands and a few years later they built a meetinghouse.
Only problem was the land was already occupied by Maine Native Americans who, according to the article, have been there for thousands of years, and they didn't take too kindly to a new population moving in. The new settlers knew they were vulnerable to any attack and they decided they needed a fort for protection.
It was a wise decision as attacks did happen quite frequently for years, but the fort stood strong.
The Bangor Daily News reports that archaeologists have so far discovered the fort was at least 200 feet long, running north to south. They say in the coming weeks they will be able to uncover more of the fort and the treasures hidden under River Road.
Click here to see some pics from the dig so far.