Fort Halifax (Maine)

Fort Halifax
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
HABS photo from 1936
Location:	On U.S. 201 west of Winslow, Winslow, Maine
Coordinates:	44°32′5″N 69°37′47″W
Built:	1754-1755
Architect:	Unknown
Architectural style:	No Style Listed
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	68000015
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	November 24, 1968
Designated NHL:	November 24, 1968

Fort Halifax was a U.S. colonial outpost on the Kennebec River at modern-day Winslow, Maine. It is a National Historic Landmark.

History

Fort Halifax was a fort on the north bank of the Sebasticook River. Its blockhouse, which survives, is the oldest blockhouse in the United States. (The oldest blockhouse in North America is Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)). It was part of a garrison built by the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1754-1755 at the outset of the French and Indian War. On July 25, 1754, Major General John Winslow arrived with a force of 600 soldiers to establish the fort at the confluence of the Kennebec River with the Sebasticook River. The palisaded defense was intended to prevent Quebec and its Native American allies from using the Kennebec River valley as a route to attack English settlements.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

On April 1, 1987, a flood dismantled the blockhouse. Some logs from it were found as far south as forty miles. The fort was reconstructed on the original site, with as much of the original materials as were recovered.

External links

• Fort Halifax, U.S. Route 201, Winslow, Kennebec County, ME: 2 photos, 13 drawings, 4 data pages, at Historic American Building Survey