Reader TT writes:
I finally heard back from the Maine Preservation Fort Guy.
Not sure where he was coming from or agree with any of his conclusions: "I
have to say that I am very impressed at your interest and persistence
in trying to figure out what the walls may represent. I visited the
site for a couple of
hours on May 13th and have been so busy I have not had a
chance to respond to you. I really took the time to look the place over
carefully including the river shore up and down stream. If the site
was actually a 17th-century fort, some
of the basic components that would be necessary would be a river
landing that was easily accessible since most travel was by water. Also
a relatively flat site that was easily defendable. From looking over
the area there is no convenient river landing or
shore where boats could be pulled up and offloaded. The site itself is
sloped making it very difficult to construct structures. In addition
there is higher ground to the east upslope that an enemy could easily
fire from down onto the potential fort. The
stone walls are indeed interesting including the smaller possible pens
northeast of the main stone enclosure in the video. My guess is that
the walls were constructed to both clear the land of unwanted stones for
agriculture or grazing and to create an animal
enclosure, possibly to hold animals shipped on the train. It is
important to remember that given such a function the stone walls would
have supported an upper wooden fence that would have created a high
barrier. Many people are not aware that this was standard
for animal enclosures. Think of the small historic animal pounds that
you see in some towns that consist of a low stone wall. One would think
how could that have possibly held animals. The question would not be
asked if the wooden split rail fence was still
present on top of the walls. To be honest I was really hoping you had
found an important site and that is why I took my time to really look it
over, but in the end there is very little to suggest a fort. Another
important thing to keep in mind especially
with Native Americans is that many activities occurred through what
anthropologists call “least effort strategies.” This means that
generally folks were not going to expend a lot of energy doing something
that was not really necessary. Building a fort requires
tremendous energy and organization and there has to be a real need for
it as well. All this being said I hope you will continue looking around
for important sites. I am happy to check them out if you think you
might have found something."
I
suspect he was comparing his findings to that of later French and
Indian fort. If it is Fort Norumbega, it would have been a fur trading
fort for the French in a time when there were no other enemies that
might have built on higher ground, and had the gunpowder to fire down on
the fort. I had no argument but did reply by sending these two pictures
of the landing and canoe cove directly below the walls on the river. I
will continue my quest, regardless. Please don't repost this. T.
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