Fort Roberdeau, also known as The Lead Mine Fort, is an historic

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, which is located in Tyrone Township, outside

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1974.

History and architectural features

Built in 1778, during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, Fort Roberdeau was occupied until 1780. Initial efforts were made to reconstruct the fort between 1939 and 1941 by concerned local agencies with support from the

National Youth Administration The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. It operated from June 26, 1935 to ...

. The stockade was finally restored as a

Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe *French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

project between 1975 and 1976. The original fort was built of horizontal logs with a

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

at each corner, and was erected by General

Daniel Roberdeau Daniel Roberdeau (1727 – January 5, 1795) was an American Founding Father and merchant residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the time of the American War of Independence. He represented Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1779 in the Continental Cong ...

to protect local lead mining activities from the Native Americans and

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

. ''Note:'' This includes The site consists of the reconstructed fort and its structures (officers' quarters, storehouse,

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, lead miner's cabin, powder

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, and lead smelter), a restored barn (1859) which serves as visitor center, a restored farmhouse (circa 1860), a sinkhole, a trail system, and a log house (2012), which was built in the style of an original frontier house. In July 2018, the Mt. Lion Observatory was opened on the grounds of the fort as a joint venture between the Fort Roberdeau Association and Neil Armstrong Planetarium at Altoona Area High School. The site is open May 1 through October 31, and the Observatory hosts public and private groups throughout the year. Open to the public as an historic site, this historic fort is administered and owned by Blair County. It was added to the

in 1974.

References

External links

Fort Roberdeau website
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Roberdeau Museums in Blair County, Pennsylvania American Revolutionary War museums in Pennsylvania Roberdeau Pennsylvania state historical marker significations National Register of Historic Places in Blair County, Pennsylvania