The Pentagoet Archeological District is a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

located at the southern edge of the Bagaduce Peninsula in Castine,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. It is the site of Fort Pentagoet, a 17th-century fortified

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

established by fur traders of French

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

. From 1635 to 1654 this site was a center of trade with the local

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

, and marked the effective western border of Acadia with

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. From 1654 to 1670 the site was under English control, after which it was returned to France by the Treaty of Breda. The fort was destroyed in 1674 by Dutch raiders. The site was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1993. It is now a public park.

History

This district forms part of the traditional homeland of the

Indians, in particular the

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...

tribe. The location at the tip of the Bagaduce Peninsula, where the

Bagaduce River The Bagaduce River is a tidal river in the Hancock County, Maine that empties into Penobscot Bay near the town of Castine. From the confluence of Black Brook and the outflow of Walker Pond (), the river runs about U.S. Geological Survey. Nationa ...

enters Penobscot Bay, was where Claude de Saint-Etienne de la Tour established a small

to conduct business with the Tarrantine Indians (now called the

Penobscots The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...

). The site was later seized by Englishmen from the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

, who operated there from 1629 to 1635. The territory was returned to France as part of the 1632 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and in 1635 the fortified trading post was established by

Charles de Menou d'Aulnay Charles de Menou d'Aulnay (''de Charnisay'') (–1650) was a French pioneer of European settlement in North America and Governor of Acadia (1635–1650). Biography D'Aulnay was a member of the French nobility who was at various times a sea capt ...

. Abenakis frequented the fortified trading post, bartering

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

hides, sealskins, beaver and other

furs Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

in exchange for

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an commodities.For a freely accessible digital text on Abenaki culture and history on the Maine seacoast, including much detail on Fort Pentagoet, see "Asticou's Island Domain: Wabanaki Peoples at

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

1500-2000," by Harald E.L. Prins and Bunny McBride (National Park Service, 2007) http://www.nps.gov/acad/historyculture/ethnography.htm d'Aulnay contested the fur trade with Claude de la Tour's son Charles in what has been called the

Acadian Civil War The Acadian Civil War (1635–1654) was fought between competing governors of the French province of Acadia. Governor Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour (a Protestant) had been granted one area of territory by King Louis XIV, and Charles de Me ...

. This conflict was won by la Tour after d'Aulnay died and la Tour married his widow. La Tour and successive French governors managed the trading post until 1654, when Acadia was seized by English forces. It remained in English hands until 1670, but the trading post apparently continued to be managed by French traders. The post was returned to France by the 1667 Treaty of Breda. In 1674 the post was completely destroyed by Dutch raiders. Subsequent resettlement of the area was long delayed, due in part to

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

, a major Native American uprising in New England (1675–78).

Archaeology

The location of the fort underwent a major series of excavations in the early 1980s, in which about half the inner compound of the fort was identified. A number of major features, including barracks, a church, a military magazine, a workshop, and what is believed to be d'Aulnay's residence, have been identified, either by direct examination or by ground-penetrating radar. The district was designated a

and was listed on 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 ...

in 1993.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Maine Geography of Hancock County, Maine Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine

History

Archaeology

See also

References