Douglas Sanford, Professor at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has written about Fort Germanna for publication in Beyond Germanna (vol. 4, no. 5 and following issues).
Ten years ago, the location of the fort had been thought to be on the south side of state route 3 (the Germanna Highway), in the approximate location of today's Germanna Community College. This was in the area where the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia owned property; however, archaeological surveys in that area had been negative for locating the fort. Later, when the Center for Historic Preservation (of Mary Washington College) had been examining the remains of the home that Alexander Spotswood built north of Route 3, they were "lucky" enough to have found a section of the wall of the fort underneath or near the home.
The portion excavated met the requirements for known types of palisade construction. That is, a ditch, a little wider than the spade, was dug down into the earth. Then posts, perhaps split, were stood on end in the ditch. Dirt was thrown back into the ditch to hold the posts upright and perhaps banked against the inside of the palisade. The posts were supposed to be close enough together and large enough to prevent entry and to stop musket fire. The fort was entirely enclosed in a five-sided palisade according to John Fontaine.
The find on the site of the Spotswood home meets the known description of how palisades were constructed. It remains to extend the excavation to two corners and to observe the direction that the palisades take there. At this point it should be possible to outline the complete palisade. When that is done, it should be possible to locate the blockhouse rather easily as it was in the center of the palisade. Finding the nine homes of the Germans will take a little more work.
In hind sight, now that the fort has probably been located, the location seems very logical. The fort was probably located on high ground for the best view of the surrounding countryside. Now real estate agents will tell you that this would also be a premium homebuilding site. Furthermore, the ground in and around the fort was probably cleared. Thus, the fort was probably both a desirable location for building and semi-developed already. The original motive for building the fort was no longer needed as relationships with the Indians had improved. Starting in 1717 (or more likely in 1718), more Germans had been settled across the Rapidan River to the west of Fort Germanna. As a fort, the time for it had passed.
Fort Germanna was built by the principles of the day which called for strong points as a defensive measure. Some were forts, both large and small, and some were enclosed settlements. Fort Germanna was, in a sense, an enclosed settlement but it did have the addition of the block house which turned it into a small fort.
The location fit Governor Spotswood's public desire to bolster the western frontier. Recent Indian wars were too fresh in the memory to ignore the dangers. It also fit nicely into general plans for upcoming land development, a desire shared by many residents in Virginia.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.