FORT HAWKINS MESSAGE BOARD
 Subject: Bicentennial Celebration Continues
 
Author: Marty Willett
Date:   12/12/2010 12:37 am EDT
Fort Hawkins continues bicentennial celebrationBy MARTY WILLETT - Special for The Telegraph 12/12/10


Appreciation for our mutual connections is certainly a cause for celebration as witnessed at Fort Hawkins this past Veterans Day. The 5th Annual Veterans Day Salute on Nov. 11 honored the lives of our nation’s veterans with 15 patriotic groups participating in a solemn flag retirement ceremony. This moving ceremony connected all of America’s veterans at the place where the first veterans in Middle Georgia served 200 years ago. Some were veterans of the American Revolution including the fort’s namesake, Col. Benjamin Hawkins, who served on Gen. George Washington’s staff. That makes him one of our country’s first veterans. Our future veterans were proudly represented by the outstanding participation of the Northeast High School JROTC Honor Guard and Cadet Cadre.

Since 2006, the Fort Hawkins Commission has been celebrating connections with the 200th Anniversary of Macon’s birthplace at this early American frontier fort. Many have enjoyed the celebration at our regularly scheduled educational public programs throughout the year, like the Veterans Day Salute. Now everyone can join our celebrated successes on our web site, www.forthawkins.com, which honors the “real” Fort Hawkins for good reason.

During the War of 1812, the British burned Washington, D.C., destroying the plans and records of Fort Hawkins, founded in 1806 on the eastern bank of the Ocmulgee River. The western Ocmulgee was the Muscogee Creek Nation until 1821, making Fort Hawkins the real gateway to the southwestern frontier for 15 years.

Col. Hawkins was allowed to lay out a “horse path” through the Creek Nation from Fort Hawkins that would become America’s first federal road connecting Washington to New Orleans. This early “interstate” would become the first postal route and the first telegraph route in the country. Church Street and Cotton Avenue are reminders of this historic thoroughfare which followed the ancient path of the Lower Creek Trading Path. The Native American proverb “All Things Are Connected” is proven at Fort Hawkins in many ways.

The recent archaeological research has revealed more amazing connections and finally the “real” Fort Hawkins. We discovered a more significant and substantial fort than the previous digs in 1936 and 1971 revealed and shed new light on the heritage of this frontier fort. That detailed report is found on our web site and we plan to do more archaeological research once the fort is open daily to the public. However, this research allowed the commission to not only describe the original fort for the first time, but also develop a long-range plan for the site which would preserve and promote the site better than the green space proposed in the city of Macon’s Recreation Master Plan.

The Fort Hawkins Master Plan is also found on our website and it reflects the commission’s plan to continue the site’s and Middle Georgia’s archaeological research forever as the state’s first public archaeological demonstration area.

The task of rebuilding the fort will therefore be limited to the 10 foot wooden palisade wall, providing a magnificent crown to Fort Hill. Nevertheless with our commitment to living history we will develop part of the fort property along Emery Highway as the “Village of Fort Hawkins.” The Fort Hawkins Historic Site will become a vibrant educational and community resource and the potential source of a renewed sense of local and national pride -- much more than just a tourist attraction.

However, the tourists will come as our public programs indicate, and Macon’s and Middle Georgia’s cultural attractions and hospitality industry will benefit from our own mini Jamestown. If you have ever been to a living history site, you should understand why we are so excited. Due to their fascination with military forts and early American history, the public will come to our daily living history and archaeological programs.

We will teach, not just demonstrate, our rapidly fading lost arts, crafts and skills that made America. All of this will make Fort Hawkins a proud part of the educational, economic and patriotic life of Middle Georgia as it was 200 years ago.

As the commission has patiently watched two failed SPLOST proposals and the collapse of the national and local economy, we have kept faith that we will get the fort open daily and it will become the great historic site it can be. We know we can achieve that dream from the public response to our Friends of Fort Hawkins with over 500 members from across the country including individuals, families, youth and adult groups. We know that we should pursue our dream from the public feedback during our fort events.

Our website includes this feedback as well as information about all our regularly scheduled events throughout the year such as our July 4th Celebration, Memorial Day Observance, Artifact ID Day, and nighttime Frontier Fort Christmas.

Just visiting the fort site is a rare treat due to the breathtaking and panoramic view provided from its high location on the fall line and made even more dramatic from the 1930s Blockhouse Replica, which is just one of the fort’s two original blockhouses.

The recent dramatic improvements to the site have seen the commission awarded the Historic Macon Foundation’s “Stewardship Award” and the Keep Macon/Bibb Beautiful Commission’s “Environmental Award.” The Friends of Fort Hawkins participate with the KMBB’s “Adopt-A-Spot” program by sponsoring four site cleanups a year. The recent participation of the Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade with site improvements marks an important new and productive connection for Fort Hawkins that will aid the commission’s mission.

The Fort Hawkins Commission was re-established in 1990 by Mayor Lee Robison to pursue rebuilding the fort and creating an educational center. This all-volunteer, non- funded, official city commission has been meeting since then developing plans and programs for this worthy historic site.

Despite our meager resources and aforementioned setbacks, we remain diligent and steadfast in fulfilling our dream for Fort Hawkins. With the National Bicentennial Celebration fast approaching for the Second War of Independence, the War of 1812, and with Fort Hawkins being the most prominent Georgia player in that important chapter in our history, we are more determined than ever to get the fort open.

How can you help our efforts? First visit our web site and discover the “real” Fort Hawkins and all of our exciting plans and programs. Next, please join the Friends of Fort Hawkins, and finally, urge all of your elected officials and philanthropic sources to help get the fort open to the public. At Fort Hawkins we will learn more about our shared heritage, our shared connections, as we celebrate our local and national pride. Fort Hawkins was the best thing to ever happen to Macon due to its 17 years of building the economic and patriotic foundation that led to the city’s successful founding in 1823. Fort Hawkins future should be just as bright, so join the adventure and catch the Fort Hawkins fever.

Marty Willett is the chairman of the Fort Hawkins Commission.




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 Bicentennial Celebration Continues  new  
Marty Willett 12/12/2010 12:37 am EDT
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