Fort McClary - Kittery Point, ME
N 43° 04.950 W 070° 42.624
19T E 360773 N 4771396
Although it saw little conflict in its over 275 year history, Fort McClary, located in Kittery Point, Maine, was a strategic fortification to protect the Piscataqua River access to Kittery, Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Waymark Code: WMHAXQ
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 06/17/2013
Views: 6
"For more than 275 years, a fort has stood to protect the approaches to the Piscataqua River at the southern gateway to Kittery, Maine. The most recent of these is Fort McClary, named for New Hampshire native Major Andrew McClary who died at the Revolutionary War's Battle of Bunker Hill. Fort McClary stands today as one of the state's most important historic forts that dramatically preserves evidence of military history and changes in military architecture and technology.
The buildings presently on the site represent several different periods of construction as the fort was upgraded and modified to meet the area's defensive needs. The site was manned during five wars ' The Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I. Like most other Maine forts, it saw little conflict." (
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"Fort McClary is a former defensive fortification of the United States military located along the southern coast of Maine at Kittery Point. Built at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, it was used primarily throughout the 19th century to protect approaches to the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and its U.S. naval shipyard.
The property and its surviving structures, including a blockhouse dating from 1844, are now owned and operated by the State of Maine as Fort McClary State Historic Site.
Coastal defenses on the site date to the late 17th century, when local shipbuilder William Pepperell acquired the property and erected crude defense works in 1689. In 1715 the Massachusetts Bay Colony voted to erect a permanent breastwork of six guns for the defense of the Piscataqua River. The fort itself was officially established in 1808 and named for New Hampshire native Major Andrew McClary, an American officer killed in the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. The fort was used throughout the 19th century, most notably during the War of 1812, as well as during the American Civil War, during which time Vice President of the United States Hannibal Hamlin enlisted in the Maine Coast Guards and served as a cook in the fort. It saw little action during these conflicts.
By the 1910s, most of the fort had fallen into disrepair and it was officially decommissioned in 1918. The State of Maine acquired most the property from the federal government in 1924, after which time it was managed as a park. Several of the dilapidated structures were demolished in the following decades. During World War II, surviving parts of the fort were used by civilian defense forces. In 1969, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The surviving blockhouse and other structures were renovated in 1987. The 1844 blockhouse serves as a museum." (
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For additional history on Fort McClary, (
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