Fort Pickering

Fort Pickering
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Winter Island, Salem, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°31′36″N 70°54′2″W / 42.52667°N 70.90056°WCoordinates: 42°31′36″N 70°54′2″W / 42.52667°N 70.90056°W
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1643
Part of	Winter Island Historic District and Archeological District
NRHP Reference #	73000320[1]
Added to NRHP	February 08, 1973

Fort Pickering is a 17th-century historic fort site on Winter Island in Salem, Massachusetts. Fort Pickering operated as a strategic coastal defense and military barracks for Salem Harbor during a variety of periods, serving as a fortification from the Anglo-Dutch Wars through World War II. Construction of the original fort began in 1643 and it saw use as a military installation into the 20th century. Fort Pickering is a First System fortification named for Colonel Timothy Pickering, adjutant general of the Continental Army and secretary of War in 1795. Today, the remains of the fort are open to the public as part of the Winter Island Maritime Park, operated by the City of Salem.

17th century

Winter Island at the time of English settlement in the early 17th century was an island separated from the mainland, held as common land by the Proprietors and used as a fortification and for fishing activities.^[2]

18th century

The old fortification which was named Fort William then renamed Fort Anne (for then Queen Anne), was rebuilt around 1706 under the direction of the Royal Engineers who had originally been sent by King William III to fortify the colonies.^[3] It was known as Fort Number Two in Patriot hands during the American Revolution.^[4] In 1794, the City of Salem ceded the fort to the federal government and a new fort was constructed in its place. Major repairs to the fort were conducted in 1796 and a restoration in 1799. Later in 1799 it was renamed Fort Pickering in honor of Timothy Pickering, then Secretary of State of the U.S.^[5]

Hand-drawn picture of Fort Pickering from the Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of 1812 by Benson Lossing (1869)

One of three 19th-century ammunition bunkers

19th century

The fort received its fourth military restoration in 1814.^[6] During the 1800s the island was used primarily for fortification and in 1864 the City of Salem again ceded the island to the federal government in support of the Civil War efforts. It was also called Salem Barracks in that war.^[4]

20th century

The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 1994, the National Register designated the entire collection of cultural resources at Winter Island and Fort Pickering as the Winter Island Historic District and Archeological District.

See also

• Fort Lee (Salem, Massachusetts)
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Salem, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts

References

1. Staff (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. Perley, 1924
3. Finch, 1998: Salem Observer 1978
4. "Massachusetts - Fort Pickering". American Forts Network. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
5. Observer 1978
6. Collins