With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Preservationists say history being buried at historic Fort Pitt

In 1759, British forces successfully beat back French occupiers of a triangular point of land where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers meet to form the Ohio river. The British built Fort Pitt and named the adjoining area Pittsburgh.

Today, next to office buildings and sitting underneath modern highways, part of Fort Pitt is surrounded by a chain-link fence. Inside, construction equipment scoops up dirt and broken chunks of concrete in preparation to cover a wall and moat that once surrounded the fort.

State officials say the renovation at Point State Park will create a flatter space that can be better used for community events. But critics say history is being buried because so little is known about what actually lies beneath the land.

"Pittsburgh is throwing away its roots if it buries this," said Richard Lang, a retired archaeologist who worked to excavate the wall in the 1960s and is part of the grass-roots Fort Pitt Preservation Society.
Read entire article at AP