Fort Germanna was a settlement of short duration, about four years. The limited indenture period of the First Colony Germans affected the fort's life span. Once it lost its military character, strategic function, and its inhabitants, Fort Germanna was abandoned and purposely demolished. Within a few years, Fort Germanna had fulfilled a primary frontier role of opening the non-European west to settlement and at the same time legally satisfying Spotswood's land claims.
The best evidence of the fort to date consists of a short length of the palisade trench. The palisade was formed by stakes, or mauled posts, which were set close to one another in the ground. These were not driven into the ground as they were too large to do that. Rather a trench was dug, the posts were set into this trench, and then the trench was backfilled with an emphasis on backfilling on the interior side. The trench at Germanna, unlike Christanna, was wide at the top, about two feet, forming an U-shaped profile. (At Christanna and most frontier forts, the trench was very narrow.) At the bottom of the larger trench, a smaller and narrower trench of about one foot width was dug. The posts were set into this smaller trench.
Within the ditch, soil stains result from the organic material of the posts. These identify the location of the posts. These stains often indicate a triangular post was used, that is, the post had been split from a small tree. As the posts were set, the ditch was refilled to hold the posts in place. The stains today are not present all the way to the top which indicates the posts were dug up and the trench was refilled. This destroyed the stains except at the very bottom. This action is consistent with the destruction to make way for Spotswood's home.
The soils that have been excavated in the one trench section are largely free of artifacts, an expected result. These soils are to be dated and interpreted from the construction phase of Spotswood's home. The artifacts include a few nails, some ceramic shards, and a small number of some green wine bottle fragments. However, nothing can be dated specifically to the 1714 to 1718 time period. In the upper layer of the trench refilling at the time of its destruction, there was intriguing evidence in the form of industrial slag, often called clinker. These bits of glassy refuse may be waste products resulting from black smithing, smelting, and testing of ores. These are known activities of the Germans.
In the future, it is hoped to trace out the outlines of the fort even though portions of it may have been destroyed by Spotswood's home and the surrounding landscaping. Rather than dig laboriously along the full length of the palisades (perhaps 1500 feet in total), ground "radar" will be used to look for soil disturbances and test pits will be used for confirmation. Once the perimeter is delineated, the interior can be tackled. The first objective would be the blockhouse which should be simple given the perimeter. Next, and very exciting to Germanna people, a search would be made for the nine (or more?) homes. Potentially this could uncover, besides the homes and sties, animal pens, gardens, wells, and trash pits. But it must be remembered, the site was occupied for only four years which does not generate a lot of debris. Confusing the issues during the search will be the remains from the period when Germanna was the county seat with businesses and a church.
What is the schedule for these projected activities? The Center for Historic Preservation is not rich and funding is a problem. The main labor pool of the Center is the classes at Mary Washington College. There is no clear answer.
Here is a question which should have a clear answer. How many acres does a pentagon which has 300 foot sides enclose?
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.