Blockhouses

Blockhouses

Fort Meigs State Memorial Park—Perrysburg, Ohio

General William Henry Harrison established this fort on the south side of the Maumee River on February 2, 1813. The fort was to serve as a temporary supply depot and staging area for an invasion of Canada. Named for the Governor of Ohio, Return Jonathan Meigs, the garrison was a home for more than 2,000 men comprised of U.S. regulars and militia from Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The Ohio Historical Society reconstructed Fort Meigs in the late 1960s and opened the museum to the public in 1974. The reconstruction of the fort on its original location was one of the Society’s major projects to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. The archaeological excavations associated with the project uncovered significant artifacts that help scholars understand military life during the early republic. Many of these objects are still on display at the site.

Beginning in 2000, the Society tore down the aging stockade and rebuilt it with new hand-hewn timbers. Workers also repaired the fort’s seven blockhouses, five artillery batteries and a quartermaster’s warehouse.

The Society marked the completion of major restoration of the fort on Saturday May 3, 2003. The project was one of the largest of the many legacy projects the Society planned to commemorate the state’s bicentennial year.
(www.fortmeigs.org)

Blockhouses belongs to the following groups:

History, National Parks of the World, Ohio Photographers, United States and War