Fort McIntosh, Beaver, Pennsylvania

Located in Beaver, Pennsylvania near the confluence of the Beaver and Ohio Rivers, the site of Fort McIntosh provides interpretation about its importance in the immediate post-Revolutionary War era. First established in 1778, it was the location of an Indian treaty signed in January 1785 and it became the home of the First American Regiment, the oldest active unit in the United States Army. Named for Gen. Lachlan McIntosh, the fort was abandoned in 1791.

Perched on a steep bank of the Ohio, the site overlooks the northernmost reach of the river. On September 3, 1803, a foggy morning delayed the departure of Meriwether Lewis’s barge until 9 am. After passing the mouth of today’s Beaver River, Lewis anchored below the site of Fort McIntosh and there discharged one of the men under him. The river was running low, they passed a riffle below, and then encountered in three miles “another riffle the worst I think we have yet passed were obliged to unload and drag over with horses.—    staid all night having made only six miles.”

The only actual remnants of the fort exist as stone footings in the ground, a replica cannon stands guard, and a wealth of historical markers and monuments interpret the scene. Interpretation covering more modern features of Beaver County are located about a half-mile away at the Beaver Station Cultural Events Center and the Beaver Area Heritage Museum, both of which may be reached off the PA 68 main street by turning south onto the one-way East End Avenue.