Fort Necessity


If you haven't yet gotten your fill of historic battlefields, Fort Necessity is another one to see. Among other things, here you can learn about the area's use as a stagecoach stop on what would become the nation's first federally funded highway. An excellent visitor center run by the NPS explains the significance of the battle here, the first engagement of the French and Indian War, which eventually culminated in British domination of North America.

George Washington surrendered here on July 3, 1754, when he was a 22-year-old colonel. Since burned to the ground, the small and rudimentary fort was reconstructed in the 1930s.


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