Return to Fort Edwards

When we visited Fort Edwards in 2009, the museum was not open. It's open on weekends during the summer and we went back on Sunday and toured the museum. It's not large but it tells the story of this frontier fort in West Virginia and some artifacts are displayed that were excavated on the site. We viewed the video and learned a little history about George Washington's role in the French and Indian War.

A sign introduces the Edwards Fort Stockade Replica:

This structure represents the original fortress stockade, erected nearby in late 1755 in early Cacapehon Valley by settler Joseph Edwards. On his homestead, the fortress encompassed Edward's house, barn, outbuildings and a spring. The original site of the stockade, known as Edwards's Fort, is just to the northeast a few hundred yards. The original site, the subject of continuing and future archeological digs, is protected. This site was chosen as representative of the land configuration of the original; and this stockade exhibits the shape — determined by limited archeological findings — of the original fort, though not entirely complete.

You can click on the picture of the sign to enlarge it to read the rest.

Cacapehon was a Shawnee term meaning medicine waters. Today it is usually spelled Cacapon, or sometimes Capon. The town where Edward's Fort stood is named Capon Bridge and is in Hampshire County, West Virginia.

The site was threatened by development when the community rescued it, forming the Fort Edwards Foundation in 1995. As you can see in the last picture, nearby land is now being developed for housing.

Link: Fort Edwards