Artifacts from an archeological dig at Fort Knox this summer indicate that a foundation near the visitors center may have housed a blacksmith shop during the construction of the fort in the mid 1800's as well as an earlier home. Buy Photo
PROSPECT, Maine — Artifacts uncovered from an archaeological dig at Fort Knox this summer tell two different stories about the dig site.
The artifacts came from the Friends of Fort Knox’s first archaeological field school this summer. The field school brought in people for two weeklong sessions to work with historical archaeologist Peter Morrison on the excavation of an area around an old foundation located near the visitors center at the fort.
Morrison presented the findings on Sunday before the Friends’ annual meeting. He theorized that the building that once stood on the site was a blacksmith shop during the construction of the fort, but a home occupied the site much earlier. Construction of the fort began in 1843 and ended in 1869.
Students at the field school cleared the site and, under Morrison’s direction, carefully dug at chosen sites inside and around the foundation stones. They cataloged all of the artifacts they unearthed.
“We have two sets of artifacts that tell two different stories,” Morrison said.
The first set of artifacts included window glass and ceramics, Morrison said, and the window glass was Crown glass, a method of making glass panes that was common in the 1700s.
“By the 1840s this would have been an obsolete way of making glass,” he said.
The ceramic bits found at the site included pieces of teacups, saucers and dinner plates. The plates were Pearl, ware made through the 1700s and into the early 1800s, he said. Bits of stoneware made in England right through the Revolution were also found.
“These would have been old pieces of ceramics by the time the fort was being built,” he said. “This all hints that this was a residence from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. That’s not terribly surprising.”
Morrison noted that the fort property was purchased in three different transactions that included three farms. The original building may have been one of those farmhouses.
The second set of artifacts tells a different story, one more like the one Morrison said he expected to find. Those artifacts included a lot of metal: railroad spikes, an iron pin, wedges and half-rounds or feathers used to cut granite, a piece of iron nail stock used to make nails and two padlocks, all types of tools or materials that would have been in use during the construction of the fort, he said.
While one or two items might have been found at sites around the fort while it was being constructed, Morrison said the one place they all would have been found was in a blacksmith shop.
The cataloged artifacts will be cleaned in the lab, Morrison said, which may tell researchers more about the site.
The Friends group hopes to continue the archaeological field school next year with the idea of unearthing more of the hidden history of Fort Knox.
On 10/8/08 at 3:40 AM,
Johninphilippines wrote:
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When I was a kid, I used to go to Fort Knox on occasion and roam around the musty, dusty and hollow corridors and rooms of the old Fort. I felt "presence" there...and maybe that was just because of the aura the old place held. I tried to envision that the old cannons, aimed at the entrance to Penobscot River would rattle and blast with resonation off the nearby hills in Prospect if and when there was an English ship sailing north, and then returning cannonades; each would toss 9-inch balls at each other. Maybe this never happened, however, surely, at one time or another, cannons were fired from Fort Knox. Further "digs" could unearth more artifacts and historic reminders of Fort Knox, and also unearth as well, much of Maine's earlier history and tell us stories from the long, gone dead that used these artifacts in their daily lives. Can we just visualize life as it used to be then?
On 10/8/08 at 5:26 PM,
thekingofmaine wrote:
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The fort was never involved in any battle, but was more or less there for defense issues for the Canadian/American border dispute with England. It was staffed however. There have been sightings of ghosts and spirits in the fort's halls. I used to go down quite a bit, but I haven't been inside for a couple of years, but from what I remember I got some pretty spooky feelings down the tunnel on the side by the gift shop. its always almost dark down there and you really need a flashlight to see anything. There have been caretakers that have died there over the years from what i know of, and some show i watched awhile back said that people felt his spirit there.
On 10/8/08 at 7:07 PM,
Johninphilippines wrote:
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"thekingofmaine"...noplace in my web posting did I mention that there was a battle. I knew that, already. I knew the historics of the fort, also. Read..."I tried to envision...). Yeah, I, too felt that I was not alone...see the second sentence...I felt "presence...". Maybe it was just our thoughts racing because we were so experienced from the old movies about "dark, cold, hollow, lifeless, old castles and forts and houses...." that we expected spirits to arise out from the moise dirt-packed flooring.
On 3/11/09 at 12:44 AM,
b4bracy wrote:
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Many people have felt something there unusual from the everday. I however want to know more about the tunnels and the underground parts of the fort that are now closed, and not even descussed anymore. As a kid I remeber alot more than the spooky feelings, even many times I though my eyes were playing tricks on me as I saw something I could not explain in the dark of the night there. I wonder if the count of how many people acually died there is accurate, and where are the origianl plans for the fort? The is more to it, than we are allowed to see. I am glad they opened up for some archeological digs, but I feel as a friend of fort knox, the untold histories would be nice to reveal, not just the location of a blacksmith shop you already knew they had. Non-the-less, a child at fort knox can envision alot of things, and imagination is what makes it so much more fun!
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