Fort Pleasant
National Register of Historic Places

Fort Pleasant

Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia
Listed
July 15, 1973
Type
Building
Period
Pre Contact
Ref No.
73001903

About this property

Fort Pleasant — formerly known as Fort Van Meter and Town Fort and still also known as the Isaac Van Meter House — is a historic site located near the unincorporated community of Old Fields about 5 miles north of Moorefield in Hardy County, West Virginia, U.S. Situated on the South Branch Potomac River, a young Colonel George Washington directed a fortification to be built here in 1756 during the escalating hostilities with Native Americans and French known as the French and Indian War. The fierce skirmish known as the Battle of the Trough occurred about a mile and a half away the same year. The existing Federal style house, built just after the American Revolution, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. According to the Geographic Names Information System, Fort Pleasant was also known throughout its existence as "Fort Hopewell" and "Waggener's Lower Fort." (The latter name distinguished it from Fort Buttermilk, also known as "Fort Waggener", about 5 miles upstream and also built by Capt. Waggener in 1756.) It was also sometimes called "Fort Van Meter", a name now commonly given to another Van Meter family fort some nine miles downstream at the northern end of The Trough which was built around the same time.

Location

Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia
39.13373, -78.94849

Categories

MILITARYARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Overview
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The Land
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Geology
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LiDAR Terrain
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Conflict & War
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The Civil War
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The Soldiers
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Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
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Rivers & Rail
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Notable People
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Historical Maps
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Finds & Access
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Literature
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Nearby Historic Sites

Buena Vista Farms
Industrial
0.3 mi
VanMeter, Garrett, House
Industrial
0.7 mi
Willow Wall
Early Republic
1 mi
Meadows, The
Industrial
3.3 mi
Inskeep, P. W., House
Industrial
4.4 mi

Questions about this property

When was Fort Pleasant listed on the National Register?

Fort Pleasant was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 15, 1973.

What type of historic resource is Fort Pleasant?

Fort Pleasant is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Fort Pleasant?

The period of significance for Fort Pleasant is recorded as the pre_contact era.

Can I research the history near Fort Pleasant?

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