The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War. This war was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. It ended with the removal of French power from North America. The stage ...
1 mile west of Fort Necessity is the location of General Edward Braddock's Grave. The highest ranking British officer buried on American soil, General Braddock died from wounds suffered in the 1755 Battle of the Monongahela, one year after hostilities opened between Great Britain and France at Fort Necessity. Braddock's Grave is open seasonally.
This space is entered from either the south (Frame House) or north (Theater) through a doorway. The room is a rectangular shape with the front and back being the shorter sides. The front is the east wall, which was considered the front of the house in 1789. The short sides each have two by two windows in them, two on each wall for a total of four windows. To the left, with your back to the front of the room, there is marble fireplace with built in cabinets and a square table towards the back with four chairs and is set with utensils and flatware. Between the two back windows is a blue flag with an eagle holding a ribbon in the middle and thirteen six pointed stars. This flag is considered to be the Whiskey Rebellion flag. Behind the flag is a vertical vinyl banner with interpretive text about the Whiskey Rebellion and Gallatin's involvement. On the right side, you have three rectangular cut outs in the wall, each one showing how building practices have changed over time. In the back corner along the long wall is a bookshelf with plexiglass panels enclosing the shelves. Displayed on the top shelf are jars of grains used to make rye whiskey (rye, corn and malted barley) along with field drawings of what rye, barley and corn plants look like. The middle shelf has a copper one-gallon whiskey still with a copy of the proclamation from President George Washington to enact the tax on whiskey which led to the rebellion. Next to the proclamation is a couple pages of the actual law. The bottom shelf has a display of other flags that may have been used by rebels during the Whiskey Rebellion.
This space can be entered through two doorways, either from the hallway up the carpeted stairs or from the Frame House bedroom. Both doorways are connected by a carpet runner. The rest of the room has hardwood floors. A series of stanchions prevent visitors from walking into the furniture and exhibit pieces. Within the flooring, a rectangle of wider boards are remaining pieces of the Gallatin Era flooring, most of which was damaged by fires. Standing on the carpet runner and going around the room in a clockwise fashion, you have a brick fireplace. Adjacent to that is a vertical vinyl banner giving you information on Sophia (Gallatin's first wife) and her mother. Beyond that are built-in cabinets. Around the first corner, there is a single two-by-two window sharing a wall with a small four drawered bureau. On top of the dresser is a white and blue pitcher and basin set and a small mirror. A door out to a small back balcony, a corner square wardrobe and a door to the stairs occupy the second corner. Continuing clockwise, after the hallway door is a small bed. The bed is fairly short and not very wide. Most of the Gallatin Era section of the floor is under the bed as well as a small oval braided rug and a small chamber pot.
Beneath your feet, the pathway transitions from concrete to rough macadam. On either side of the driveway, there is green lawn. The lawn is mostly flat, but there are some hills up on the right and down on the left, with several large trees spread out around. You will see a portion of the house on the far left is sandstone with a large open wooden porch, this is identified as the Stone House. Adjacent to that is a flagstone patio and a yellow stucco section of the house. A small sandstone well (no longer in operation) is on the edge of the driveway in front of the patio. There is a ramp and stairs leading to the side door. This section is known as the State Dining Room. A wide arch transverses the driveway, connecting another stucco covered addition to the house. This is considered the Servants' Quarters. These stucco sections were added post Gallatin.
The Fort Necessity National Battlefield/National Road Heritage Corridor Interpretive and Education Center is the main visitor center for Fort Necessity. It tells the story of the opening years of the French and Indian War. The story of The National Road, America's first federally funded highway is also told here through a partnership with Pennsylvania's National Road Heritage Corridor.
Room can be entered from the north (Brick House), south (Visitor Center breezeway) or west (Stone Kitchen) sides. Roughly square shaped, this room has a pair of two-by-two windows on the east side. To the right is a fireplace and built-in cabinet. In the cabinet is a display of several pieces of glass representing what may have been created by the Gallatin Glassworks. On the back wall (shared with the Stone Kitchen) is a rectangular display case with the steps and ingredients necessary to make a creamer pitcher in the Gallatin Glassworks. There are several molds, a blow pipe and glass in various stages of the process.
Frame House bedroom - you can enter in from the Brick House down a small ramp or down the two steps from the landing outside the elevator. Standing on the carpet runner that connects those two entrances, in a clockwise direction, at the first corner, you will find a couple of child size mannequins dressed in 18th century clothing. Between the two mannequins is a vertical vinyl banner with information about growing up at Friendship Hill. A small oval braided rug is under the mannequins and banner. Continuing around to the next corner is a built-in closet followed by a fireplace. There are two large two by two windows on the wall behind you. Landing - When you come off the elevator, you come out onto a carpeted landing. With the elevator behind you, in a clockwise direction, you will find a false wall. Around the first corner, you will find a door with an Authorized Personnel sign. This leads to the Rangers' office. Past the door is a built-in cabinet with a padlock on it. A chair is against the wall just beyond the cabinet. In the second corner is a vertical vinyl banner with information about Hannah Nicholson, the second wife of Gallatin. Directly ahead of you is a series of stairs leading into the second floor of the Stone House. There is currently a door and a stanchion blocking these stairs because the area is currently closed to the public. Continuing around the room, you round the third corner to find another chair, followed by a door leading out to the balcony porches. These areas are not open to the public at this time. The door has a window on the upper portion so that you can see the porches beyond the door. There are no windows in this space, other than the door to the porches. Stone House - Although currently closed to the public, the footprint of the space is identical to the first floor. The only way to enter is the stairs of the landing. If you were to climb the stairs, you would find a hallway with a floating staircase leading down to the first floor or up to the third floor. These stairs are original to the building and not open to walk on. Straight ahead from the stairs from the landing is the first larger bedroom. The vertical vinyl banner with Hannah's information is typically here. There is a fireplace and a small writing desk. A large rug covers most of the floor. There are three windows in this room, two flank the fireplace and the third overlooks the east lawn. Off this large room is a smaller one that can also be entered from the hallway. In this space is a small bed, a small desk, and several built-ins around the fireplace. There are two windows in this room, both are two by two. If you were to climb the floating staircase to the third floor, you would find four empty rooms that have not been modernized in any way and can only support 50 pounds per square foot on the flooring.
Part of the way up the pathway from the parking lot, there is a bronze statue of a balding man, looking through a circumferentor on a tripod. On the ground, at one leg of the tripod is a set of Gunter's chains. At the foot of another is a satchel containing a protractor with a straight edge, a Galileo compass and a metal stake. The man holds his tri-corner hat in his left hand. The statue is centered in a circular concrete pad with a long bench on the right and two short benches on the left. The walkway continues up the hill to the left directing you to the Visitor Center.
A rough asphalt pathway lead you from the Visitor Center to the Gazebo. The Gazebo is a stone structure that is roughly oval shaped with pass throughs in the middle of both sides. A cedar shingle roof covers the structure. The stonework is around 39 inches tall from the ground, and wooden beams hold up the roof. Beyond the structure is a concrete patio with split rail fencing and beyond that is the overlook to the river. The area has several mature trees and bushes around, so it is fairly shady most of the day.
"Indian Run" is the name for a channelized creek that drains through The Great Meadows into Great Meadows Run next to Fort Necessity. George Washington wished to use these creek beds as a defensive position to defend the original supply stockade of what would become Fort Necessity. Unfortunately on the day of The Battle of the Great Meadows on July 3rd, 1754 a steady rain would settle in, flooding the creek bed and turning The Great Meadows into a large quagmire.
In The Great Meadows the trail crosses a small bridge over what is known as "Indian Run". On the other side of Indian Run the trail continues a few yards to the outer embankments of Fort Necessity.
Bulletin board in the Visitor parking lot for Friendship Hill National Historic Site.
The public parking lot is at the bottom of the hill, and at the beginning of the path up to the house, there is a bulletin board with important park information, such as seasonal closures or telephone numbers. There are automobile size parking spots along the perimeter of the lot, with bus and RV spots in the middle between two small grass covered islands. At the opposite end from the bulletin board is a comfort station, containing restrooms and a season bottle filling station. Beyond that is the picnic area with several picnic tables and a small pavilion.
Walk through the brick tavern's double doors. In the hallway, you will find a barroom on the right, and a parlor on the left. In the back is the kitchen and dining room. Up the stairs between the barroom and the kitchen, one will find several dormitory style rooms for the variety of travelers that came through the tavern.
The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area in southwestern Pennsylvania reveals how one region, in a sustained and thunderous blast of innovation, ambition and fire, forever changed America and its place in the world. It is the story of the industrialists and the workers who pushed an infant industry to it ultimate limits and in doing so pushed the world into the Age of Steel.
Following the edge of the lawn, you will start down the trails. You will come to a small pond where turtles can be found sunning on the logs partially submerged in the water. Several large snapping turtles can also be found in this pond. Past the pond, you will find a small, rectangular piece of land with a low stone wall around it. Birds and squirrels can easily be heard in the trees and deer have been known to wander by from time to time.
This section of the house, directly off the Visitor Center, consists of three areas. The first one you will encounter is the hallway, the short sides have double French diamond paned inner door with solid wooden double doors outside. A free-standing wooden staircase (closed for preservation) is the highlight of this space and continue up to the second and third floors. Through the eastern door, you enter a large room with very high ceilings. From the doorway clockwise around the room you will find a wood and plexiglass partition a little over waist high, preventing visitors from going into the smaller room beyond it. In the corner past the partition is a vinyl vertical banner with information about LaFayette's visit to Friendship Hill and Albert Rolaz, Hannah and Albert Gallatin's younger son. Beyond that corner, you will find a brick fireplace. Hanging above the fireplace is a reproduction portrait of Gallatin. In the next corner, you will discover a cordoned off section which offers a clear view to the basement area below, and the many layers and iterations of flooring since the house was built in 1823. Continuing the tour to the right is a circular table with two spindle-back chairs. Behind the flooring display is a two-by-two window, with two others flanking the table and chairs. There are custom built-in solid shutters in all three windows. Rounding the third corner, you will find four more vertical banners with information about the National Road. For the third section, we have the front parlor. This room is partitioned off in both entrances, the archway from the larger parlor and in the doorway from the hall. From the partition from the large parlor, in the center is a square table with four chairs around it. On the table is what appears to be an ongoing card game, some plug tobacco and a bottle and four tumblers. Going around the room clockwise, you have a free-standing cabinet with a glass door on the top half and two wooden ones on the bottom in the first corner. Between the two large windows two by two paned windows is a long table with the leaves folded down. On this table is a vase and box holding a variety of glass bottles. In the second corner is a small stand with a humidor. Built-in China cabinets are behind the small stand and on the other side of the fireplace that is centered on this third wall. The other built-in has a wooden rocking chair in front of it. A reproduction portrait of LaFayette sits on the fireplace mantle.
The stone kitchen at Friendship Hill National Historic Site
Steps lead down to a room filled with historical replicas of 18th and 19th century tools, utensils and foods. A large fireplace fills the far wall with an accessible entrance to the left. Turning around, you will find an open space with a brick wall, a partial stone wall and a frame wall with bricks as insulation. Evidence of a fire at some point abound with burnt timbers and scorch marks. A modern vaulted ceiling encloses an open stone structure, with track lights to brighten the space.
The Great Meadows is a wide open meadow that was used as the location for what would become Fort Necessity, and is the site of The Battle of the Great Meadows.
A large meadow, surrounded by trees, with 2 small creeks draining through the meadow. The path leads out of the woods, into the meadow, and crosses Indian Run, before reaching a small stockade with a large, diamond shaped redoubt where the fort's edge would be.
The Mount Washington Tavern was a tavern along the National Road. It is now open seasonally as a museum. The furnished rooms and interpretive signs tell the story of this historic building.
Fort Necessity/National Road Interpretive and Education Center
The exhibits an programs at The Fort Necessity/National Road Interpretive and Education Center immerse visitors and students in the diverse cultures and customs of mid-eighteenth century Pennsylvania. The bookstore gift-shop provides a selection of theme related souvenirs and in-depth material for those who want to learn more after visiting the park. Exhibits also cover the National Road, the first federally funded highway, that linked the east and west of the young United States.
The Mount Washington Tavern is a museum that focuses on travel and life along the National Road in the early 1800s, when it was a stagecoach stop along the nation's first federally funded highway.
Fort Necessity National Battlefield has five miles of hiking trails to explore. You can walk to the battlefield and back in 15 minutes, or hike for hours through forests and meadows.
Fort Necessity Junior Ranger
Come to the park, watch the movie, visit Fort Necessity, and complete the Junior Ranger Activity Book to earn a Fort Necessity Junior Ranger badge.
Take a Self-guided Battlefield Tour
Self-guided tours of Fort Necessity National Battlefield can be accessed using your mobile device.
Watch Road of Necessity in the Visitor Center
The twenty-minute orientation film Road of Necessity takes viewer along the path from Washington's first trip over the Alleghenies to the creation of the National Road.
Historic Weapons Demonstrations
Black powder weapons demonstrations are given daily throughout the summer at Fort Necessity as staffing permits.
Tours
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Becoming George Washington
Stops 101 to 107 are more specifically focused on George Washington's involvement in the battle at Fort Necessity.
