From Mirror staff reports

A team from Juniata College has determined the original location of the Revolutionary War asset Fort Roberdeau and recently published an article in Historical Archaeology, a journal for the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The article “Finding Fort Roberdeau” is the culmination of study and research that started in 2015 with a Nittany Mineralogical Society meeting. Juniata College faculty Ryan Mathur, professor of geology, and Jonathan Burns, director of the Cultural Resource Institute and instructor of history and art history, were inspired to join with Daniel Bochicchio, Linda Godfrey, Martin Helmke, George Kamenov, Glenn Nelson, Karen Morrow, George Pedlow and James Stuby to search for the fort.

Fort Roberdeau was reconstructed as part of the U.S. Bicentennial and serves as an interpretive tourist site, attracting visitors and school students between May and October in Sinking Valley. The original fort’s location was subject to debate, as was the location of its lead mines.

Synthesizing data collected from the resistivity surveys, lidar, drone surveys and metal detection conclusively revealed the location of the original fort, the outpost, the blacksmith and the mine.

The original fort location is partially overlapped by the smaller replica currently in place.

The researchers’ findings will be shared with Fort Roberdeau visitors when the site reopens for the season on May 1.

Fort Roberdeau is overseen by the Fort Roberdeau Association, a nonprofit organization committed to preserving the site and providing historical interpretation.