Save the Fort Pitt Music Bastion!

Only two remnants of Fort Pitt can be found at Point State Park. One is the Block House dated 1764 and erected by Col. Henry Bouquet, a leading British military figure of the day. The other is the unearthed (in the 1960s) and partially restored Music Bastion noted by George Washington (...two of which near the land are of brick...). The brick wall, next to which ran the moat, sits well below ground level in what appears, from even close by, to be a wide, deep, and pointless ditch. It is marked by a bronze plaque, but barely interpreted at all. The fact that the walls are so far underground is fascinating in itself, and speaks not only to the changes to the land made by man, but also the power of river flooding, through which nature is always seeking to resculpt the earth.

The wall also represents other things. For example, it means that way, way down there, below the current Point State Park, is the original footprint of Fort Pitt, and presumably all the foundations of the brick buildings and thousands or millions of artifacts from the French and Indian War era.

The restoration of the Music Bastion was led by Charles Morse Stotz, a visionary historian to whom all interpreters of French & Indian War history owe an enormous debt. Stotz was by profession an architect specializing in the preservation and restoration of historic buildings. When one considers the legitimacy of the Music Bastion restoration, one must take into account the meticulous nature of every Stotz work. Even the most cursory exploration of Outposts of the War for Empire (1985) affirms his dedication to accurate history.

Now a local Pittsburgh partnership involving the Allegheny Conference and the Riverlife Task Force seek to bury the Music Bastion as part of the Point State Park Master Plan and thereby convert this part of the Forks of the Ohio National Historic Landmark to activity space for the annual Three Rivers Arts Festival, the Three Rivers Regatta and other non- historical themed events and concerts.

The Fort Pitt Preservation Society (SaveFortPitt@yahoo.com) has been organized to oppose the burying of the bastion in favor of proper maintenance of the area and badly needed interpretation of the site based on its historic significance. Other concerned Pittsburghers share this view, unfortunately, plans are moving ahead quickly. In the light of day, the people of the Pittsburgh region should decide what is to become of their history.

In improving the park for the future of the city, is it necessary to bury its past? Now is the time to voice your opposition to the destruction of the Fort Pitt Music Bastion.