FINDING FORT ROBERDEAU

Fort Roberdeau was an American Revolutionary lead mine in Central Pennsylvania. Scant information exists on the original position of the Fort, the location of mining activity in the area during Revolutionary times, and artifacts from this period. Subsequent farming, mining exploration and the placement of the current replica Fort (erected during the Bi-centennial) obscure the landform and hinder identification of Revolutionary mining activities. As a means to locate where the mining activities occurred and the original position of the Fort, this study integrates historical, geological, geophysical, geochemical, geomorphological, and archaeological data. Geological mapping identified potential areas of past mining and geophysical resistivity surveys verified at least one Revolutionary aged mine as the location and dimensions of the subsurface anomaly match historic records. The positions of period metallic artifacts in conjunction with a road and corner of the original Fort (identified with Lidar and thermal imagery) place the original Fort near the current replica.