The Mohawk Valley of upstate New York is an area of great historical significance. Its strategic location as a gateway to Canada as well as to the interior of the United States makes it a unique focal point in the history of this nation. Fort Plain/Fort Rennselaer was located on a hilltop overlooking the present day village of Fort Plain, NY. The fort served both as a refuge for the displaced families of war and the headquarters of Colonel Marinus Willett, commander of the upstate New York forces after 1780. Johannes Lipe, a Palatine German, whose family began settling the valley around 1730, owned the land the fort occupied. The original home of his son, David Lipe, was built in 1848 and today serves as the main museum house. The site of Fort Plain’s fortifications, which we call the “Fort Hill”, is an area of approximately 20 acres on a high-plateau peninsula of land overlooking the Mohawk River and Otsquago Creek. On the eastern portion of the hill corner stood the main fort, an irregular quadrangle about 150 ft x 180 ft. It housed two barracks buildings, officer’s quarters and a small hexagonal blockhouse. About 400 ft northwest of the fort stood the large exterior blockhouse that guarded the opposite corner of the hill. The hilltop fortification was finished with trench works dug across the isthmus of the property. This essentially transformed the entire hilltop into one large fortified position. Within this defensive area there has been found evidence of centralized cooking facilities, blacksmith services and temporary living quarters for the displaced populations and additional soldiers that were housed there. Also found on the fort hill is a natural spring which was the water supply to the fort. In the ravine immediately adjacent to the fort is the Otsquago Military Road. This Continental Army road was used to connect the Mohawk River with Otsego Lake and the Susquehanna River System. Also found on the road are the footings of a bridge constructed by the army probably to move artillery south for General Clinton’s 1779 campaign into western New York.
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Fort Plain Today The Fort Plain Museum is chartered under the Board of Regents as a 501C3 not for profit entity. The charter was originally granted in 1963. The museum’s purpose was to highlight Revolutionary War Fort Plain and educate the public on the fort’s contribution to protecting the Mohawk Valley during the struggle for American independence. Today the Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park is expanding its facilities and developing the historic acreage it now owns. In 2004 the museum completed a new building program, a reproduction of the Revolutionary War home of Johannes Lipe. The Lipe family originally owned the property on which stood Revolutionary War Fort Plain. It is planned that the new building will display our collection of Revolutionary War artifacts recovered from the site and simultaneously tell the story of the war in the Mohawk Valley.
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The Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park, located in the center of the Mohawk Valley, represents four distinct periods in the valleys history: prehistoric Native American, late Mohawk Indian, Revolutionary War and 1820-1850 Erie Canal and rural farm life. The museum was founded in April 1963 to protect and exhibit its collections of historical artifacts and the historic sites on the property. The sixty-five acres of land belonging to the park contain the following sites and features:
- Site of 15th century Iroquois longhouse
- Mohawk Indian Burials – ca. 1710
- Site of Revolutionary War Blockhouse, Magazine and Jail
- Burial site of Revolutionary War hero Robert McKean
- Site of Revolutionary War Fort & Continental Army Headquarters
- Existing trench works & redoubt areas which protected fort hill
- Site of central cooking facility or mess hall
- Site of Blacksmith shop and outworks adjacent to fort
- ¾ mile of Otsquago Military Road
- Remains of Continental Army Bridge
- Earthen Dam – part of forts water supply
- Sites of two settlers cabins on Otsquago Road
- Freshwater spring which served fort (still in service)
- Section of Erie Canal
- Remains of Mill Dam - ca. 1840
- David Lipe stone farmhouse built in 1848 – present museum
- Reconstructed Johannes Lipe House – present museum
- Remains of Palatine home of Casper Lipe - ca. 1740
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