Destination Thursday: The Fort Pitt Blockhouse

The Fort Pitt Blockhouse in Point State Park is the last remaining building of old Fort Pitt, and was built in 1764 by Colonel Henry Bouquet. The five-sided brick Blockhouse, built outside the northwest bastion of the huge fort, still stands on its original site. Soldiers stood on wooden platforms and poked their rifles through the long slits that are visible upstairs and down. The door is original and so is the block stone above the door chiseled with the words “A.D. 1765 Coll. Bouquet.”

Not only is the building the oldest in Pittsburgh but the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains.  Today, the blockhouse still stands as a final link to the original 18 acres that became the city of Pittsburgh.  In May of 2003, David Anderson, an archaeologist and manager of the Cultural Resources Section of the Coraopolis-based engineering firm Michael Baker Jr. Inc., conducted an archeological dig for the Pittsburgh chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution which is the organization that provides administration for the Blockhouse. You can read about their discoveries at http://www.postgazette.com/localnews/20030524blockhouse0524p5.asp .

Kelly Linn is Curator, and is available to share her extensive knowledge Monday through Friday 10am-5pm until April 17; and after April 17, Wednesday through Sunday 10am-5pm. Ask to see the sundial from the Black Watch.

Beside the Blockhouse is Fort Pitt Museum. It interprets for citizens and visitors the strategic importance of the “Forks of the Ohio” during the French and Indian War period in which British, Colonial, French, and Native American forces struggled for control of North America, and during the subsequent founding and development of the city of Pittsburgh.  For more information, go to http://www.fortpittmuseum.com/WelcomePage.html

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