Fort #3 Connecticut River
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The Great Meadows: At East Putney, have been the site of two (2) Forts listed in the earliest archieves of Putney as Fort #3 located along the Connecticut River. Much of the cleared land in this area, was done to provide ship building timber. The first fort built in 1744 was demolished by fire with a second being built here in 1755.
Placed in honor of 12-12-12 event GC41P4V
The historic marker at this location was originally erected at the site of the Fort(s), it now rests at this location as a necessity to be above the flooding waterline. The container is a small lock and lock with a log and some starting kid friendly swag.
1733 First cutting and forwarding of mast timber for the British Royal Navy began on the Great Meadows in East Putney.
1734 September 12, 1734, Ompawmet presented a land claim for the Great Meadows to the English at Ft. Dummer. A note in the Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts records the following transaction, "Ordered 120 pounds to John Stoddard, Esq. And Captain Israel Williams to be by them paid and delivered to Ompomac Indian upon executing before as many Indian witnesses as may be, a deed of conveyance of his right and title [of the Great Meadow, part of the Equivalent Land.]"
1736 The General Court of Massachusetts voted to lay out four townships. Those on the west side of the river (VT) were numbered in order coming down the stream: No. 1, Westminster; No. 2, Putney; No. 3, Dummerston; No. 4, Brattleboro. Those on the east side of the river (NH) were numbered in order going up the stream: No. 1, —; No. 2, Westmoreland; No. 3, —-; No.4, Charlestown.
1740 Colonists built Putney's first fort by 1740 in the clearing on the Great Meadows, with 10 men sent to accompany them for the purposes of scouting and guarding. This fort and others like it served as outpost stations for British exploration, conquest, and colonization of the Connecticut River Valley.
1745 Nehemiah Now taken captive on the Great Meadow by Abenaki from St. Francis, October 11, 1745. Probably the first Connecticut Valley captive of King George's War (1744-48), How died of fever in a French prison in Quebec on May 24, 1747.
1752 First ferry established near Putney station in Dummerston by Captain John Kathan, connecting the two towns with Westmoreland, NH and the services provided down river, like grain grinding. The East Putney, or Britton ferry was established soon after near River View Farm.
1753 Josiah Willard (1716-1796) led a proprietors' petition for a Putney charter and on December 26, 1753, the town received its first charter, issued by Governor Benning Wentworth of the New Hampshire Grants under King George II of England. 1755 To protect themselves, settlers from Putney, joined by those across the river in Westmoreland, NH, built a second fort at the Great Meadows. They remained near to its confines until about 1760, just after the British victory in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.
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