Pricketts Fort origin accounts: 1. Stephen Morgan

The true origins of Pricketts Fort are shrouded in mystery.

Given the sustained interest over the decades in the actual origins of Pricketts Fort, and the difficulties in attaining any conclusive certainty regarding them, it would be useful to collect the earliest accounts we have of how the fort was built, and how itwas constituted, and transcribe them in full here on the Fortblog. 

The work of uncovering and collecting these accounts was accomplished by Glen D. Lough, who published them over a period of some months in his newspaper, Awhile Ago Times, beginning in February 1973, and it is from that publication that they are taken now, together with Dr. Lough’s occasional comments.

Dr. Lough did not claim to know the true origins of Pricketts Fort.  Instead, he made it his business to collect all the early accounts he could uncover and to publish them.  We consider this a commendable and valuable undertaking, and now propose to make them available again in the Fortblog — one at a time — and so perpetuate his good work and encourage future scholarship on the history of Pricketts Fort.

We begin with the problematic account of Stephen Morgan.  “Problematic” because, after it had been used as a blueprint for the Bicentennial reconstruction of the fort, its reliability was drawn into question.  Nonetheless, for the record, here it is:

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In 1773, when about eighty families were living at the Prickett settlement because of danger from Indians, instructions came from the Governor through his agent at Fort Dunmore (Fort Pitt) for forts to be built in various locations throughout the far frontier, and my uncle, Z. Morgan, being deputy lieutenant of our county, was given such instructions for a fort to be erected in our community.  Three locations for the fort were considered a high level spot on my father’s land, a flat at the mouth of Little Creek, on Nat’l Springer’s land, and the land at the settlement where the fort was at last erected.

In August 1773, the spot was chosen and Jacob Prickett and Calder Haymond said prayers over it.  A large stockade was decided on, and my father surveyed the ground and when the stakes were in, the men got ready and built the stockade.  Much hard winter weather delayed the erection of any buildings until the last week in March, the next year.  At which time the houses were commenced, and the building of them went well.  By May all the buildings were up and the fort was finished altogether.

There were sixteen cabins, a range of four on each wall.  Large storage bins divided the cabins from each other. The outside walls, with side-walls sloping inward, were ten feet high.  At first the cabins had earthen floors, later some of them were fixed with puncheons.  The pickets for the stockade were hewed in seventeen feet and set in the ground five feet, which gave a stockade wall of twelve feet.

The bastions (blockhouses) were larger than the cabins, and were set one at each of the four angles of the stockade.  Their outer parts projected two feet beyond the stockade walls.  These overhanging sections had slatted floors, so that enemies making a lodgement against the stockade wall might be fired upon, straight downward.  The bastions were eight feet higher than the walls, were twelve feet square, and made of large hickory logs, with ample gunspaces, or loopholes, in and in between.

Within the stockade at the forward center of the grounds were two large buildings, each forty feet long and twenty feet high.  The one nearest the main gate was called ‘the shelter’, though in most other forts such buildings were called ‘community houses.’   The other one was called ‘the store,’ and in it were kept goods and supplies of every nature.  the shelter was used for church, school, meetings of all kinds, and as emergency living quarters.

There were two gates, the main gate in the center of the northern was, facing the river, and by the big spring, and the stock gate, in the center of the west wall of the stockade, near the little spring.  the stables and stock-pens were all at the far southern end  of the stockade.  Both gates were made of logs and thick slabs, and hinged so that they would fold inward.  The main road went from the main gate to the river, where the crossing was at the highest riffle, westward into my father’s land, and joined onto my father’s road, which he and Jacob Prickett and John Snodgrass, made before any of them built homes in the country.

Scenes from the Christmas Market

Despite the blustery winter weather, the annual Pricketts Fort Christmas Market was very well attended this year. At least, the indoor market was well attended. On that first day in particular, when the raw wind whipping across the open field between the Visitor’s Center and the Fort put one in mind of the Siberian steppes, attendance at the fort was down somewhat, to put it mildly.

On the second day, though still very cold, the wind had tempered a bit, and a very respectable number of hardy, resolute souls made the overland trek across the frozen waste to the shelter of the fort, drawn by a persistent fascination for the distant past, or perhaps just the promise of a sip of hot wassail…

But the heart of the Christmas Market this year definitely resided in the Visitor’s Center, where a generous assortment of vendors & artisans, both local and from far afield, had laid out their wares, offering everything from 16th-century leatherbound books to 18th-century scrimshawed powderhorns, – from early 19th-century salt-glazed pottery to Civil War-era tatting & embroidery.  And so on & so forth. These were not fragile antiques rescued from local attics,  but sturdy period reproductions, fashioned faithfully in accord with the materials & techniques of their respective times, and made for hard use.

What follows then, is a bit of leisurely window-shopping, a stroll through the Christmas Market of Pricketts Fort which, year by year, has expanded its offering of unique wares & goods procurable nowhere else in the region.

Meanwhile, over at the Fort, and back in time about two & a third centuries, on that first bitterly cold morning, things were a whole lot quieter.  The rare visitor who ventured bravely into the wind and made his (or her) way to the timbered confines,  found a handful of stalwart sentries, hard-bitten frontier ladies, and the odd native huddled close to the fires, but who nonetheless were unfailingly hospitable, ready to converse at length and at leisure about long-ago times, and more than eager to dispense a hot steaming flagon of fortifying wassail!

Even Queen Aliquippa, that imperturbable beastie of the forest, impervious to the elements, chose to stay under shelter for the day, commandeering this well-situated stump close to the fire, and spending the better part of the morning and afternoon, serenely warming her whiskers . . .

Artisans of the Christmas Market: “Wild Willy” Frankfort: master horner, scrimshaw artist, cartographer, illustrator, calligrapher.

In addition to his roles as cartographer, illustrator,calligrapher, author, re-enactor, and experimental archaeologist, “Wild Willy” Frankfort is also a skilled horner and a master scrimshaw artist. A graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Willy has been recreating authentic 18th century powderhorns and other early American artifacts for well over a decade, and can be seen at many re-enactments, period shows, and historical conferences throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In his home library, he has one of the best private collections of primary sources on frontier history in western Pennsylvania. Since 1994, Willy has immersed himself in the 18th century, taking classes in frontier living where he has learned skills such as driving oxen, making stick and mud chimneys, squaring logs for a frontier cabin, and the art of early blacksmithing. Willy is also active in the Washington County Historical Society, The Rangers of the Ohio Company, the 1st Virginia Regiment, and the Oliver Miller Homestead.

Artisans of the Christmas Market: Debora Blind, Paper Filagree Artist, Calligrapher, Pen & Ink Illustrator

As information becomes available, stories about some of the artisans who will be at the upcoming Pricketts Fort Christmas Market will appear here on the Fortblog.   First up, Paper Filagree Artist, Calligrapher, Pen & Ink Illustrator, Debora Blind.

Ms. Blind is an artist who takes thin strips of colored paper, coils and curls them into various shapes, then creates intricate designs out of those shapes. The finished work can be applied to the lids of boxes, used as “inlay” for trays, or added to the sides/tops of various wooden household objects. Following 18th century examples and processes, Debora also creates framed pieces, and a line of ornaments that are one-of-a-kind objects d’art. Her paper filagree work has been juried into Early American Life Magazine’s Top Traditional American Artist list for more than 10 years.

Ms. Blind also creates various examples of calligraphy and pen & ink illustrations…specifically home portraits (custom work only) and a delightful German Heritage Cone Ornament. This ornament is a paper box that can be colored and constructed to resemble an inverted pyramid that can hold small gifts, and be hung on the Christmas tree. There are over 20 different patterns to choose from, all original designs by Ms. Blind.

Debora lives in Cincinnati, Ohio and teaches art full time at Springboro High School. She instructs Advance Placement Studio Art, 2-D Art and Design, and various other art courses. Her fine art degree is from The Maryland Institute, College of Art, and she enjoys a two month Artist-In-Residency during the summer at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute At Tremont located in Townsend, Tennessee. While there, she creates oil and acrylic landscape paintings, scientific illustrations, and helps instruct various camping groups in art processes like paper fillagree and nature drawing.

Annual 18th-century Christmas Market one week-end only this year, from December 11th through the 13th

The annual 18th-century Christmas Market will be held again at Pricketts Fort this year — one weekend only — from December 11th to the 13th.

The Market Area will be set up in the park’s Visitor Center and, along with the Museum Shop, will be open free of charge. Guests can browse quality historic crafts and products including jewelry, ornaments, handmade items, furniture, Shaker boxes, baskets, books, toys and wine. Seasonal and traditional music by will take place throughout each day.

In addition to the Market area, the seasonally decorated Fort and Job Prickett House will be open for ticketed tours with costumed historic interpreters. Visitors can enjoy a cup of hot wassail from the hearth.

There is no charge to visit the Market vendors in the Visitor Center but a tour of the historic and festival attractions requires a ticket. Fees are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $3 for children between 6 and 12. Children under 6 and Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation Members are always free.

Hours are Friday and Saturday 10 to 4:30 and Sunday 12 to 4:30. Prickett’s Fort State Park is located 2 miles off I-79 at exit 139. Follow signs to the state park.

Serene Queen

During the recent Fall Festival (about which more stories will be forthcoming), the #1 fort cat — Queen Aliquippa, at the height of visitor attendance when there seemed to be no quiet spot anywhere — situated herself in a window of the Gunshop and sat for a long time watching serenely as visitors and re-enactors, settlers & Shawnee, passed endlessly to  & fro below her.   Many were the visitors who stopped to exclaim about the beautiful, imperturbable feline in the window, but no one was quite tall enough to reach up to pet her — nor could anyone quite reach her from inside.  So like the cool aloof Queen that she is, she sat serenely above it all, watching the parade of humanity as it passed, superior to the common herd, empress of all she surveyed — Aliquippa, Queen of the Fort!

Squire Miller killed in Shawnee attack; Mistress Rebecca taken captive

It all begins peacefully enough on a mild October morning, with Squire Miller and Mistress Rebecca picking beans in the field outside the fort.

Little do they suspect that the fearsome Shawnee Two Hawks and his band are skulking up through the forest only yards away!

At just the right moment, when his intended victims have their backs to him, Two Hawks makes his move . . .

. . . and seizes Mistress Rebecca and drags the poor girl into the forest and secures her to a tree  . . .  Squire Miller instantly turns to pursue the pair, but at that moment the other Shawnees move in for the kill . . .

. . . and brave Squire Miller meets his fate.

Just as Two Hawks considers whether or not to take Squire Miller’s scalp, the Shawnee are surprised by the sudden appearance of a returning hunting party, led by Capt Tom Carson.

As his companions run for the shelter of the forest, Two Hawks kneels for a final shot . . . after which he scoots for cover himself.

Capt Carson and his men, meanwhile, press home the attack . . .

. . .  as Two Hawks and his warriors withdraw in good order, turning frequently to return fire as they melt back into the forest . . .

. . .  but Carson and his men, enraged at the death of Squire Miller and the loss of the girl, will not be gainsaid and press on all the harder . . .

 . . . until finally they realize the Shawnee are gone and that they are only shooting at shadows . . . 

Mistress Rebecca is gone as well, and Capt Carson knows it will take a well-planned expedition to rescue her.  He must consider whether to try and take her by force, or buy her back.  Either way, it will take strategy, guile, expert tracking, and no little amount of luck . . .

. . .  as for Squire Miller, however, his luck has run out . . .

Fall comes to the old frontier

Fall on the old Virginia frontier was, above all, a season of preparation against the coming Winter. The foundation of the cabin would be banked against the cold wind with a thick matting of cornstalks and pumpkin vines, or straw if they had it, or even banked with earth. And naturally a substantial stockpile of dried and split firewood, kept under cover and close to the cabin.

The other main necessity which had to be stockpiled was more problematic: namely food. If the Winter was severe, replenishing the food supply by hunting might be all-but-impossible for days or weeks at a time. Even during milder spells it might be difficult, if game were scarce for one reason or another. Therefore the prudent pioneer would lay up food in autumn in as great a quantity as possible.

Meat, whether fish, fowl or beast, and whether domestic or wild, had to be preserved in some manner. In the deep of Winter, freezing was an obvious solution. But if the meat were killed before Winter had set in — and much of it would have to be — then other methods than freezing were required. These ranged from jerking to smoking to salting, and occasionally even to pickling.

Traditionally, on the American farm, the first cold snap signalled hog-butchering time, which meant plenty of fresh juicy pork, cracklen bread, new lard, sausage, souse meat and a fresh supply of soap. On the old frontier, however, fat pen-fed hogs — which yield the tenderest pork — were all but unknown. The frontier pig — accustomed to fending for itself in the forest and subsisting on ‘mast’ — yielded meat which was far leaner, drier and less tender — its taste and consistency being much more in the nature of wild meat.

The frontier equivalent to the pen-fattened hog was probably the bear, the meat of which was widely favored by pioneer and Indian alike. The meat was rich and succulent and, as with a hog, every part of the animal had a useful purpose, not the least of which was the ample hide which, when properly tanned, resulted in a thickly-furred robe capable of turning the severest cold.

When it came to preserving fruit and vegetables, freezing was the problem, not the solution. Fruit or vegetables exposed to freezing would rot.

Potatoes and turnips could be kept from freezing by any of several methods: one of the simplest was to place them in pits in the earth, an effective method especially if they were also covered in sand or ashes, which helped to keep them from moisture. Nonetheless, many such buried root-crops would succumb to rot before Spring. Some settlers prolonged the life of potatoes by baking them lightly before burying them, a practice brought over from Ireland.

Pumpkins and squash would keep well into winter if kept dry and protected from freezing. Some settlers would store them in a shed or smokehouse, buried amid straw or cornshocks. Because pumpkins tended to rot sooner than squash, they were sometimes peeled, sliced and dried, instead of being stored whole.

Beans and corn, if not eaten during the season, were left to dry in the field until after frost, after which the corn was hung indoors from the rafters, and the dry beans shelled and stored in crocks or other containers.

Generally speaking, folks on the frontier looked forward to the Fall for one very good reason: Fall meant that the season of Indian attacks would soon be ending. Winters were harder then than now. The snows came earlier in the year and, once they had fallen, tended to last until Spring thaw. The climate was colder and, especially in deep forest, the snow accumulated and didn’t melt. With the forests impassable, the Indians stayed home until late Spring or early Summer when the trails were again open and dry. On the frontier, Fall meant a reprieve in the fighting was at hand, and folks could begin to breathe easy. Winter might be hard, and it certainly carried its own serious hazards, but it was also a time of peace.

Occasionally, there would be an “Indian Summer”. Today this is a term which carries only pleasant and nostalgic associations. On the frontier, however, Indian Summer was a thing to be dreaded. It referred to a period of unseasonable warming following the first tracking snow. It didn’t happen in every year but, when it did, it meant that, after everyone had let down their guard and assumed the season of fighting was over for another year, there might be a recurrence of attacks and blood-letting, followed by Winter in earnest. It was one more hardship added to a long list of trials and tribulations which made life on the frontier harder, lonlier and more desperate than we moderns can begin to imagine.

Preparations afoot for Fall Festival

Busy days at Pricketts Fort ahead of the annual Fall Festival scheduled for this weekend. A mountain of newly-split hardwood has stacked inside the fort; corn shocks erected, brought in the from the field outside the palisade; pumpkins, squash, gourds, beans & corn hung up inside the storehouse, brass kettles scrubbed and set up over firepits, soon to be steaming with apple butter.

Among the re-enactors on their way to the fort for the weekend are Shawnee braves, tomahawk-throwers, apple-butter cooks, a soap-maker, candle-maker, tinsmith, blacksmith & a crotchety old farmer.

So come one, come all. The festival commences this Saturday, October 10 & 11, 2009, from 10 -4:30 on Saturday and 12 – 4:30 on Sunday. 

For more details about Fall Festival activities, see our earlier story, Fall Festival and Antiques Fair to return to Pricketts Fort.

No Fall Rendezvous this year at Pricketts Fort

We apologize for any inconvenience that misinformation may have caused, but Pricketts Fort will NOT be hosting a Fall Rendezvous this year. We encourage people to come out and participate in Fall Festival weekend October 10-11 and the Annual 18th century Christmas Market December 11-13. Feel free to contact us for further information at www.prickettsfort.org.