Visit Pennsylvania’s Fort–Fort Loudoun–on Saturday, June 15th and step back in time to 1756 and witness the artisans, laborers and soldiers build features of Fort Loudoun, located at 1720 North Brooklyn Road, Fort Loudon, PA 17224.  See the new fort, new museum, and gift shop.  See demonstrations of blacksmithing, construction, carpentry, weaving, music and hearth cooking.  Participate in 18th Century games, lectures and axe throwing competitions.  Open to the public 10-4.  Entry fee is $5 per car.  The first 100 visitors receive a free small ice cream from Antietam Dairy.  Kids scavenger hunt, games and musket drill. (A detailed schedule at fortloudounpa.com)

This year’s theme is “1756”, the year that John Armstrong and his Pennsylvanians built Fort Loudoun. See 18th Century fort construction.  The Pennsylvania Regiment will be busy building a magazine, well house, a drain, a butcher pavilion, as well as putting the finishing touches on the Guard House, the newest addition to the fort. The historical significance of the Guard House, first mentioned in a June 1758 letter to Colonel Henry Bouquet, is that it was where 6 members of James Smith’s Black Boys were held during the Black Boys Rebellion in 1765.  This structure is the same size (12’x16’) as Fort Morris’s Guard House from Shippensburg. The reconstructed Fort Loudoun sits exactly on the spot as it was discovered by Pennsylvania Archaeology in 1978-1982.

Food Vendors: Zach’s Snacks and Hazardous Goods (BBQ) and Antietam Dairy (Ice Cream)

The Fort Loudoun Historical Society is an all-volunteer non-profit organization whose mission it is to interpret and manage the site of Fort Loudoun built in 1756.  Fort Loudoun was a provincial fort built by the Colony of Pennsylvania during the French and Indian war and served as an important supply depot in the line of forts along the Forbes Road.  It was the site of the Cherokee Council with Colonel Henry Bouquet in 1758 and of James Smith’s Black Boys