FC 90 Fort Halifax with Daniel Tortora

Fieldstone Common - Northeast History & Genealogy Radio with Marian Pierre-Louis

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Daniel J. Tortora, the author of the book Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost.

Bio – Daniel J. Tortora

Daniel Tortora is an assistant professor of history at Colby College. An expert on early American and Native American history, he speaks extensively on the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War eras. He leads battlefield and historic tours and has contributed to numerous films, archaeological projects, websites, exhibits and research projects. In 2011, he was appointed to the Fort Halifax Park Implementation Committee.

Book Summary

Winslow has grown up around Fort Halifax in its many, many incarnations. Beginning as a French and Indian War garrison and trading post, the fort welcomed historic figures from Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr to Paul Revere and Chief Joseph Orono. Reduced to one small blockhouse in the 1800s, Fort Halifax hosted archaeologists, travelers, artists, politicians and students. The Flood of 1987 swept away the blockhouse, leaving the fort and its supporters to fight an uphill battle for reconstruction. Throughout varied iterations, uses, trials and tribulations, Fort Halifax has remained the symbol of a community. Join historian Daniel J. Tortora in this engaging narrative of Fort Halifax’s fight for survival. Meet the famous visitors to the fort, the local residents who have cared for it and the figures who have kept its memory relevant and its future hopeful.

Publication Info

Title: Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost

Publisher: The History Press (2014)

Trade Paperback; 158 pages with end notes, a bibliography, an index, and some photos and illustrations.

Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

The Interview

In this interview Daniel Tortora and I discuss the strategic location of Fort Halifax at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers. Fort Halifax became the most northern outpost for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though the history of Fort Halifax as an active military outpost was short-lived it was witness to skirmishes with the Native American population and was host Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War. Much of the story of Fort Halifax is the tenacity of its survival and its rebirth with the help of the Daughters of the American Revolution and devoted preservationists.

Links mentioned during the interview:

• Pownalborough Courthouse, Dresden, Maine
• The Major Reuben Colburn House (1765), Pittston, Maine
• Old Fort Western, Augusta, Maine
• Norridgewock Indian Village, Norridgewock, Maine

Prize Winner

One copy of Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of The History Press.

The winner is:

• To be announced next week

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to The History Press for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

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http://www.fieldstonecommon.com/fort-halifax-daniel-tortora

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