Fort Halifax (Maine)

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 Richmond (Maine) would be rebuilt in 1740, attacked by another tribe in 1750, then dismantled in 1755 when forts Shirley (also called Frankfort), Western and Halifax were built upriver. 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). 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 Canadiens and their 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.