After a summer of excavations at Chimney Point, archeologists know more about the French fort which used to stand there in 1731.
Last fall, a local historian told me that they believed they had found a stone foundation of the fort. I have to admit I was surprised because the fort built there by the French was a wooden fort… and… it was replaced in 1733-1734 by Fort Saint-Frédéric, on the other side of the lake.
Well, there were further digs at the site last summer, and it is clear the stones are actually fireplace foundations, with the characteristic H shape (2 chimneys back to back). Well, the lead archeologist John Crock, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Director, UVM Consulting Archaeology Program, at the University of Vermont, made a very interesting presentation on their work last September.
You could watch it (update 2021: not anymore) at “9,000 Years of Life Under the Bridge: The Archaeology of Chimney Point”.
I have to say, however, that I am doubting their conclusion: “the stones could be the fort bakery oven“.
“No way,” I say. An H shape doesn’t seem to be the right shape for a bakery oven!
I’d love to hear more on the subject!
Article: The Construction and Dismantling of Fort Pointe-à-la-Chevelure (Chimney Point, West Addison, Vermont), 1731-1735, Joseph-André Sénécal, 2016.
Hi Christine, I came across your website via a link on the Bethlehem Trading Post site. Several of us at Saratoga National Historical Park are currently working on a research project that will be of interest to you. We are examining the colonial history of the Saratoga area. I have been looking at a network of French trader families who were residing here from the 1680s into the 1710s. One of them, Rene Poupart dit LaFleur, was born about 1650 in Plessé, Nantes, Bretagne, France. Please contact me if you would like. Keep on blogging!
What if the fireplace is somehow the remains of DeWorm’s 1790 little stone fort. Is it not possible the French merely built around what was left of the structure he had built in the summer/fall. More excavations will, I am sure clear this up. I think it’s great they have found what they have, it being lost and feared destroyed by the bridge and abutments.
I meant 1690. not 1790.