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All the United States Maryland Big Pool Fort Frederick

Fort Frederick

A star fort along the C&O Canal in western Maryland that protected America in three wars.

Big Pool, Maryland

Added By
David Plotz
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The wall of Fort Frederick   David Plotz
A costumed interpreter at the gates of Fort Frederick   David Plotz
Fort Frederick   David Plotz
The fort’s well   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Surgeon’s Quarters   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
King’s Storehouse   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Armory   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Captain’s Quarters   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Surgical Instruments   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Hospital   Edward Denny / Atlas Obscura User
Sign at park entrance   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Historical Marker at the fort’s entrance   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
  Ahuntley / Atlas Obscura User
Fort Frederick from the Air   C Stork / Atlas Obscura User
Entrance to center of the fort   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Stairway to the internal edge of the fort   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Many forts have bloody, savage histories. But Fort Frederick did its job for America, without ever seeing action.

The British built the fort near the Potomac River in Western Maryland at the start of the French and Indian War, and it ably protected the state's Western frontier, but never fired a shot. The modern star design made it too formidable to attack. During the Revolutionary War, Americans imprisoned captured British soldiers in the fort. More than a century of farming in and around the fort followed, with a brief interruption during the Civil War, when Union troops garrisoned nearby and guarded the C&O Canal. The Civilian Conservation Corps restored the crumbling fort during the Great Depression.

Today it's in spectacular shape, and just far enough out of the way that it's never crowded. There are two restored barracks, where you can lie in straw-mattressed bunks. Soldiers slept two to a bed, four beds to a room, but the docents will explain that Fort Frederick was a luxury post, since soldiers got to sleep in a barracks rather than a tent. 

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Forts

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Just a mile south of I-70's Big Pool, MD, exit.

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davidplotz

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C Stork, Edward Denny, Ahuntley, blimpcaptain

  • C Stork
  • Edward Denny
  • Ahuntley
  • blimpcaptain

Published

September 14, 2015

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Fort Frederick
11100 Fort Frederick Road
Big Pool, Maryland, 21711
United States
39.613523, -78.006239
Visit Website
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