Pentagouët, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Date: 1611 to 1763
Location: Pentagouët, Nouvelle-France

Pentagouët, established as a fort in 1613 by Sieur Charles de la Tour, later served from 1670 to 1674 as the capital of Acadia. Now known as Castine, Maine—it is a town in present-day Hancock County in eastern Maine .

Transcription of Historical Markers

Landing Marker

Here Landed November 6, 1611...

Here Landed November 6, 1611, Sieur de Biencourt, Governor of Port Royal. Sieur Claude de la Tour, Founder of Fort Pentagouet, 1613 His son, Sieur Charles de la Tour, afterwards the fort's commander and proprietor, and Frere Pierre Briard, S.J. The first Europeans positively known to have set foot upon these shores.

Fort Pentagouet

Fort Pentagouet.

Originally a trading post, built during the winter of 1613 by Sieur Claude Turgis de La Tour

It became, with its accession through nine changes of regime and of successive but continuous occupation, THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT in NEW ENGLAND, and its actual POLITICAL and COMMERCIAL BEGINNING.

Captured and rebuilt by SIR DAVID KIRK in 1628, transferred by grant to the PLYMOUTH COLONY in 1629, and restored to FRANCE by the TREATY of ST GERMAIN and by force of arms in 1635, it was entirely reconstructed by SIEUR CHARLES de MENOU D’AULNAY de CHARNIZAY (1636-45) who made it one of the largest and most formidable fortifications in the NEW WORLD, named by him Fort St Peter, and by the English THE PENOBSCOT FORT.

Under the dominion of FRANCE (1613-28, 1635-54, 1670-74, 1676-1745), of ENGLAND (1628-35, 1654-70), of THE UNITED NETHERLANDS (1674-76). It became the seat of government for ACADIAN in 1670, and four years later of the province of NEW HOLLANDIA, the capture of which by BARON ST-CASTIN (November 1676) ended DUTCH authority in AMERICA.

It was five times carried by assault, twice surrendered by royal decree, and once by the TREATY of BREDA, twice raided, once unsuccessfully besieged, once invested and its truck house plundered by 300 MOHAWKS in 1662, and once partially and once completely destroyed.

Rebuilt much smaller in 1677 by BARON JEAN VINCENT D’ABBADIE de ST-CASTIN, and thenceforth known as CASTIN’S FORT, it was again raided by SIR EDMOND ANDROS (1688), and by COLONEL BENJAMIN CHURCH (1704), and was finally demolished by CASTIN’S SONS (1745) to prevent it coming under ENGLISH control. Possession of the locality was thus retained until 1760.

During the one hundred and thirty one years of its existence, its Strength, Strategic Position, and Enormous Revenues commanded constant NEW and OLD WORLD recognition as factors always to be recognized within Intercolonial political and commercial affairs.

Its Story is the most varied and dramatic of any American Fortress of its time.

• Photo by John Stanton, 28 Jun 2012. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike. http://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Pentagoet File:Fort Pentagoet - 01.jpg