View source for Kittery Garrisons and Blockhouses

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Kittery Garrison Houses - It is documented that there were as many as 36 multi-family garrison houses in Kittery during the Indian wars. Each family and single person was assigned to a specific garrison house. A system of watches and alarms was established to alert the people to gather at their assigned garrison house when an attack was imminent. Some specific families were authorized to establish their own individual garrison houses but that was risky because some of the raiding parties had upwards of 150 French and hostile Indians. The French & Indian raiding parties sometimes took advantage of the garrison house system by forcing settlers to flee to the Garrison house while they burned down all the houses, crops and killed the livestock. They then concentrated on the garrison house and sometimes were successful in getting the whole garrison to surrender.

Eliot was the Upper Parish of Kittery until it was incorporated on 6 Mar 1810. On 30 Apr 1690, there were listed 8 garrisons in Upper Kittery and 10 garrisons in lower Kittery. There were no soldiers stationed in any of the Lower Kittery garrison houses but there were six soldiers allotted to the upper Kittery garrison houses in 1690.

Note: The Indian wars in Maine spanned a time period lasting over a hundred years and some five generations. There were times when almost all the settlers were driven out of the contested areas and their communities were destroyed.
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== [[Frost's Garrison (1)]] ==
This garrison house was established at the outset of [[King Philip's War]] in 1675 at the request of then Captain [[Charles Frost]], later Major, (born 16 Jul 1631, killed 4 Jul 1697). This garrison was listed on the 1690 list of garrisons at the beginning of [[King William's War]] (1689-1697). Major Frost rose to command the Maine Militia. He was killed by hostile Indians on 4 Jul 1697 at the end of the war at ambush rock near the garrison house. This garrison house continued to be listed under his name and rank until 1720 and continued until 1722 and Dummer's War (1722-1725) as Charles Frost Esq. Probably operated by Major Frost's son, Charles Jr. (1678-1724) who resided on his father's property, was the commander of a militia regiment and was also commissioned a Major on 13 Jan 1715.

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== [[Frost's Garrison (2)]] ==
On 8 Sep 1730, Colonel [[John Frost II]] (1709-1768) purchased Stony Brook Farm in Kittery (now Eliot) from his father for £1000 and resided there. He married Sarah Gerrish in 1734. He built a home in 1732, a small garrison in 1734, and a large public garrison in 1738 all in a small area on Frost Hill. He fought in the French and Indian Wars and died in 1768.

The three structure Frost compound still exists today with the original buildings except that the old 1732 Frost family house was destroyed in 1760 and rebuilt in 1778. The 40'x 28' two and a half story wooden 1778 frame home is the one that remains on the site today.

The small 1734 garrison was intended as a family defense and was built the year that John Frost married Sarah Gerrish. This small garrison was only 15' by 15' and was connected to the main house by a tunnel that no longer exists. With the construction of the larger garrison, the smaller one began to be used as a powder house but still retained its defensive features. 

The small garrison/powder house is made of hand-hewn timbers of pine and oak, dovetailed at the ends. There are special timbers which lock the structure together. It has a loft beneath its low gable roof and loopholes are provided for defenders could fire on their attackers. The original plugs for these loopholes are extant and in place as of 1971.

The small garrison/powder house was removed from the original site before 1940 and reconstructed at Kittery Point. By 1971 the structure had been returned and rebuilt on the original foundation.

The large garrison was intended as a community defense against French and Indian raiding parties during the [[French & Indian War]].

The larger 1738 garrison building had one and a half stories with the upper story overhanging the lower. The upper story floor has forty-foot floorboards two inches thick with trap doors which served as openings to shoot through. The garrison walls are made from huge hand-hewn pine logs and the supporting knees from giant roots. Most of the timbers measure 12" to 18" in width and are generally 8" in thickness.

Each outside wall has two small 3" x 3" loopholes to allow the garrison defenders to fire on attackers. Five of the original porthole plugs were still in place in 1971. The area around the portholes is riddled with holes made by arrows and bullets from attacks on the garrison.

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'''GPS Locations:''' 
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=43.16196|Lon=-70.74903}} Frost Garrison

== Frost's Garrison (3) ==
[[Nicholas Frost]] (1585-1663) built a garrison house at the foot of Frost's Hill circa 1650. On 4 Jul 1650, Nicholas Frost's wife, Bertha, and their daughter, Anna, were captured by Indians and taken to a camp at the mouth of Sturgeon Creek. At this time, Bertha was 40 years of age, Nicholas was 65, and Anna was 15. Nicholas and his son, Charles were at York at the time and on their return, attempted to rescue them, but were unsuccessful. Charles, however, killed a chief and a brave. The next day, Charles, his father, and some neighbors went back to the camp but were too late. The camp was deserted, only the bodies of Bertha and Anna were found there. They were buried near the old Garrison in Eliot, Maine, Nicholas Frost's home.

In 1651 the town granted to Nicholas Frost three hundred acres and other grants increased his estate to one of the largest estates in Kittery. He built his house on the southern slope of Frost's hill probably about 1651. It was a garrison house built of large hewn square logs.

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== Shorey's Fort ==
A garrison house Near the highway to South Berwick, just south of Shorey's Brook

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== Neal's Garrison ==
By John Neal about a half-mile south of Shorey's Fort

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== Heard's Garrison ==
By John Heard about two miles from Neal's Garrison near Sturgeon Creek. circa 1650

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== Hammond's Garrison ==
Major Joseph Hammond's Garrison - Just north of the site of Hotel Green Acre. Surrounded by a stockade.
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== Spencer's Garrison ==
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== Emery's Garrison == 
Daniel Emery Garrison - Deacon Daniel Emery
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==Emery's Garrison ==
Stephen Emery Garrison
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== [[Hodgdon's Garrison]] == 
[[Benoni Hodgdon]]

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== [[Nason's Garrison]] ==
[[Jonathan Nason]]

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== [[Stone's Garrison]] ==
[[Daniel Stone]]

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==[[Abbot's Garrison]] ==
First shown on the 1690 list as  Ensign [[Thomas Abbot|Thomas Abbot's]] Garrison in Upper Kittery later as Captain [[Thomas Abbot]] Garrison in Kittery.

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== [[Nason's Garrison]] == 
[[Richard Nason]]

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== [[Spencer's Garrison]] ==
[[William Spencer]] Garrison assaulted in March 1689 but attackers were repelled

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== [[Homes' Garrison]] ==
Thomas Homes's small Garrison at Quamphegon located near his sawmill was attacked in March 1689 and the attackers burned down his house. [[James Plaister]] who was captured when the fort at Salmon Falls was taken and sent by [[Hope Hood]] (Commander of the Indians) under a flag of truce to the Homes Garrison to persuade Thomas Homes to surrender the Garrison. Homes declined and Plaister stayed with the garrison. Plaister recounted seeing some one hundred and fifty enemies about half of which were French.

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== [[Watts' Fort]] ==
Not really a fort but an island in the Piscataqua River in York County Maine. One mile upriver from Frankfort Island.

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'''GPS Location:'''
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=43.16196|Lon=-70.74903}} Watt's Fort

== [[Darby's Fort]] ==

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'''GPS Location:'''
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=|Lon=}} Darby's Fort

== [[Leighton's Fort]] ==

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'''GPS Location:'''
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=|Lon=}} Leighton's Fort

== [[Libby's Garrisons]] ==
On Libby's Hill

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'''GPS Location:'''
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=|Lon=}} Libby's Garrisons

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'''Sources:''' 
* {{Roberts}}.
* Bourne, Edward E., Garrison Houses, York County, in Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Vol. VII (1876):112-113
* Old Eliot: A Monthly Magazine of the History and Biography of the Upper Parish of Kittery, Now Eliot, Volumes 1-3, 1901, page 145-146, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UK4TAAAAYAAJ&lpg=RA2-PA146&ots=T2EhZJp-0d&dq=Libby's%20Garrison%2C%20Eliot%2C%20Maine&pg=RA2-PA146#v=onepage&q=Libby's%20Garrison,%20Eliot,%20Maine&f=false Google Books]
'''Links:''' 
* [https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/me4.html#eliot North American Forts - Eliot]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia - Eliot]

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