Announcing the Discovery of the Zekiah Fort

This summer Dr. Julia King was once again looking for the Piscataway Indian Fort in the Zekiah Swamp in Charles County, and she believes she found it.  In 1680 the Piscataway moved to Charles Calvert's land in the Zekiah and built a fort initially for protection from raids by northern Indian groups.  The fort was abandoned in the mid-1690's.  Dr. King's work was funded by the Smallwood Foundation and Michael Sullivan.

The announcement of the discovery was made September 15, 2011, at Mount Victoria, the home of Mike Sullivan.  In addition to Julia King and Mike Sullivan, those speaking included Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Mike Miller, Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton, the presidents of St Mary's College and the College of Southern Maryland, as well as representative from three Piscataway groups- Billy Tayac, Mervin Savoy, and Natalie Proctor.

Numerous local historic and preservation organizations were represented.  At least eight CCASM members attended.  Five of them had volunteered for Dr. King this summer.   Sorry, I didn't get pictures of the CCASM members.

Skylar Bauer and Alex Flick

Here are pictures of two of the St. Mary's College alumni that worked on the project as well as a box with some of the artifacts from the site.

Zekiah Fort Artifacts

For more information on the event see St. Mary's College Press Release