FORT FREDERICK STATE PARK

When you first see this huge stone fort with its pointed bastions sticking out like star points from each corner of the in-your-face behemoth fortress, your initial reaction will probably be utter disbelief. At least that’s how it was for us.

My old friend Jimmy and I were both thinking the same thing. “Why would such a castle-like fortification be erected in the middle of nowhere, and how come I never heard of this place?”

We arrived on a Friday morning and by sheer luck stumbled onto a free tour of the 1756 fort led by three seasonal Department of Natural Resources (DNR) docents who gladly answered all of our questions, except for why we had never heard of Fort Frederick.

It turns out the fort was used as the forward operating base against the Indians on the western frontier during the French & Indian War (1754); then it was a prisoner-of-war camp for hundreds of British soldiers during the Revolutionary War; and finally, it was used as an outpost for the 1st Maryland Infantry during the Civil War against Confederate raiders who were wrecking havoc along the Potomac during the Civil War. In fact, Company H fought a bloody skirmish took at the fort on Christmas Day in 1861. After that, it was abandoned.

Matt, a very entertaining young Englishman, met us in full Colonial regalia at the front gate and then gave us an excellent overview of the fort’s storied history.

We were then passed off to another young re-enactor, named Jacob, with a history degree from Frostburg, who gave us a rousing display of 18th Century musketry. After firing off a few rounds, Jacob and I had a very spirited debate about George Washington’s murky role in the British defeat at Fort Necessity in 1754 that ultimately led to the global Seven Years War. I walked in thinking I knew my stuff when it came to the British campaign to defeat the French at Fort Duquesne, and I had a less than flattering opinion of Washington’s military skills in support of this effort. Well, it turns out that I had my head up my ass and Jacob set me straight with his encyclopedic knowledge of American history.

I walked away thinking, “How the hell could someone so smart and engaging be working for peanuts in a little known Maryland state park?”

Next up was Zak who told us about the living conditions for the soldiers who manned the fort. Each room in the tandem two-level barracks, housing officers in the building on the right and enlisted men on the left, offered a detailed glimpse into life in an 18th century American frontier outpost that had to be completely self-sufficient. Interpretive signs explained what we were looking at and help to round out the amazing story. The soldiers made their own uniforms, leather and metal goods, weapons, and food. There was a doctor on duty and a field hospital. They even had a dance hall where they entertained and traded with the local Indians. They even have some of the beaded and shelled items on display. We found the whole place absolutely fascinating.

All of the docents were summer employees of the DNR and they do an amazing job of making history come alive. And they do a French and Indian War reenactment at the Fort each year that is supposedly unbelievable. People say it’s even better than Antietam. 

But the real kicker — which we didn’t learn until the end of our tour — was the fact that the fort isn’t really historic at all. After the Civil War it was sold off and dismantled to make barns and farmhouses.

Fort Frederick — meaning the surrounding land and the rubble remains of the old fort — was purchased from an African-American named Nathan Williams in 1922, making it Maryland’s first park and the fort and it’s buildings were all later rebuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930’s. You would undoubtedly be amazed if you knew how many of the old roads, trails, buildings, fences, stormwater ditches, fire towers, and a whole lot more, were constructed in our national and state parks by the CCC.

Essentially, the whole place is a historically accurate theme park. Will wonders ever cease?

After exploring the fort, the CCC Museum, and the general store where we bought some snacks and cold sodas, we headed a half-mike south across the very active CSX railroad tracks toward the Potomac River and then hiked the park’s Beaver Pond Trail to the fishing hot spot known as Big Pool, a short tributary of the Potomac. We wanted to go swimming but the shoreline was sucking mud and the water looked a tad funky.

So, we walked back to our car through the manicured Fort Frederick campground that resembled a landscaped golf course with tidy fish cleaning stations at each camp spot surrounded by shady poplar, sycamore, and maple trees.

There was only one family camping in the absolutely idyllic campground on a lovely sunny Friday in July. Apparently no one in the state knows it’s there. The place was so empty that a mother deer and her two spotted fawns totally freaked out in surprise when they saw us, as did a family of squeaking coot ducks in the Beaver Pond.

Which brings me back to my still unanswered question: Why is Fort Frederick such a well-kept secret?

• http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/western/fortfrederick.aspx