2014 New River/Ft Harrel Search Summary with Late June 2014 Surgical Bike/Hike to New River Head

[shawn beightol]

5 Missions to New River in Search of Historic Seminole War Fort Harrell (http://books.google.com/books?id=HV80mOj8p0AC&lpg=PA7&ots=B... ) in 2014:

 

1) April 26 2014 with FTA group reached middle lakes and Denhams clearing, crossed New River to clearing I mistook for stone wall clearing.  Thorough search of clearing reveals nothing (wrong clearing, but still now ruled out) - no positive results, Denham's clearing should be reevaluated more thoroughly.  15 miles round trip hike.

Above: FTA friends/members on initial Skillet Strand hike down to New River.

2) May 10 2014 with EEN group reached New River Head, hexagonal clearing, Blarcom's coordinates for Fort and Copeland's marker.  No positive results on Blarcom's sites.  Found Hewn Cypress log buried in pond, found stone ledge. Ruled out hexagonal clearing.  13 miles round trip hike.

Above:  EEN's Chris and Dale on hike to explore Blarcom's approximations of Fort Harrell's location and Copeland's marker.

3) May 17 2014 solo hike to New River Head.  Found clearing at head, followed New River SW to investigate stone ledge.  Unable to "punch out" SW end, aborted 2/3rds down and pushed SE to further explore Blarcom's coordinates.  No positive results aside from clearing at head. 14 miles round trip hike.

Above: suspect clearing at head of New River.

4) June 17-20 2014 water-based excursion from Chokoloskee to Crooked Creek chickee with EEN's Pavel.  June 18 paddled 18 miles round trip from Crooked Creek Chickee up New River.  Found 2 mounds with evidence of long history of use (including contemporary fish/hunt camping) - needing further research.  Verified Barnes Creek same as historic Barnes River said to run parallel to New River. Unable to reach clearing where satellite images suggest curved stone wall exists.  38 miles round trip including Barnes Creek verification.

Above: a shaped wooden beam >12' in length at the site of a suspected clearing/mound.

 

5)  June 26-27 2014 bike/hike from Monroe Station to clearing at New River Head with EEN's Tony Pernas and Chris Harris.  Evaluate 1940 USGS Soil Survey Map that noted "Ft Harrell."  Fairly thorough search of shoreline and woods at NE Riverhead.  Found TBA : ).  Awaiting further analysis. 17 miles round trip including search patterns.
Above: Shawn Beightol, Tony Pernas, & Chris Harris crossing New River "Lake" near site where Ft Harrell is believed to have existed.

[shawn beightol]

[shawn beightol]

The combined tracks of the above explorations.

[Gary M]

Shawn,

From your description it seems the old fish camp was south of the ENP/BC border, so that is why it was destroyed?

Did you find any other locations north of the border that were dry and/or large enough to camp with a small tent or hammock?

When the weather turns a bit I would like to look around myself, but the distance from the chickee takes too much time for up and back. Using a base camp up the river would be the way to go.

[shawn beightol]

Yes, we found 3 good camps north of boundary

[shawn beightol]

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

1837 SEMINOLE INDIAN WAR FORT HARRELL FOUND BY LOCAL GLADES EXPLORERS

Ending a Century of Mystery, Shawn Beightol, Chris Harris, and Tony Pernas Locate Missing Seminole War Fort Harrell

Monday, June 30, 2014

Contact: Shawn Beightol ([e-mail] 305-801-8717)

 

Miami, Fl. – Amateur historians/Florida Everglades explorers Shawn Beightol, Chris Harris, and Tony Pernas announce today the rediscovery and location of a Seminole Indian War Fort constructed in 1837 and last seen by engineers of the Tamiami Trail in 1917.  The fort has been lost to researchers for nearly a century due to the remoteness of the location, the difficulty of exact geographic mappings/locations in the Florida Everglades, and rapid decomposition and changing topography of the wet, hot, tropical region.  

 

Using historic war maps, engineering surveys and notes, and 1940's era aerial photos, the Beightol/Harris/Pernas team logged almost a hundred hours and miles this year narrowing down the possible locations to one particular clearing that National Park employee Tony Pernas noticed on an aerial survey.  

 

Last week, June 26 2014, the team made a final, late season overnight push into the tropical hardwood hammock at the headwaters of the Everglades'/Big Cypress' New River.  The team found what it believes to be conclusive evidence of Fort Harrell's exact location - a series of post holes in the limestone subsurface used to erect horizontal log fort walls in the manner of Pennsylvania's 1778 Fort Roberdeau (www.fortroberdeau.org/content/history-fort-roberdeau) or Spotsylvania's 1864 battleworks (https://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/are-those-trenches-real/ ), a technique necessary when the ground or time constraints do not allow the digging of a continuous trench to support a typical vertical log palisade.

  

The clearing believed by the team to have held Fort Harrell (and supported by such historic maps as the 1848 Blunt Nautical Chart, 1855 Westcott Survey Maps, and 1856 Ives Military Map) consists of a limestone subsurface layer covered with 1-2 inches of peat soil.  Team member Tony Pernas noticed regularly occurring holes in the limestone, many of which appeared in pairs.  By flagging the visible holes, it was determined that they describe a rectangular area with 4 straight and perpendicular sides, interior walls, an extension that may be a bastion or livestock enclosure and an excavated/natural boat landing.

 

The absence of modern decaying materials, as so many other high grounds/mounds explored this year possessed, suggests this is not the site of subsequent fishing or hunting camps.  This, combined with the erosion to the regularly spaced/placed holes in the limestone suggest this to be a much older structural site than a hunting/fishing camp of the past 50-60 years.

 

National Park employee Tony Pernas has reporting our findings to the cultural resources division of the National Park Service.  Next step would be a thorough professional survey of the area, including the soil in and around the enclosed area, the post-holes, the boat landing, and lake bottom. 

 

Images and further notes of the Discovery of Fort Harrell Everglades/Big Cypress mission may be found at: 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152510634725482&type=1&l=6d89a90505