Fort Pitt Museum

 

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Susan D.

Pittsburgh, PA

7/28/2008

The Google Map shown is incorrect.  This place is at the Point, not on the North Side.

My husband Rick went here with a friend recently.  It reminds me that I have not been here in awhile.  It is a very unassuming, small-looking place.  If you didn't know it was here, you'd miss it.  But looks are deceptive and this place goes back and in depth.

The Fort Pitt Museum is located in a re-created 18th century bastion of the fort that Great Britain built in 1759, after it captured the Point from the French; the outline of the French Fort Duquesne, built in 1754, is nearby. The Museum focuses on the French and Indian War but also addresses such topics as the American Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, and the founding of the city of Pittsburgh.

They have a fur trader's cabin, a barracks room, and an artillery room to demonstrate what early life at the Point was like.  Upstairs, they have built a new exhibit on the long war between France and Great Britain, with special emphasis on the role that the Point and Fort Pitt itself played. Many original documents and artifacts are displayed.

They have a couple of upcoming exhibits here that I would like to see.  One is Prelude to Victory: Grant's Defeat and it will be on September 13, 2008.  The other will be "The Hinge of History: The Forks of the Ohio Changes Hands".  I love history and can easily get absorbed into this museum.  Sure, it looks small, but I can easily spend a couple of hours here.

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