Fort Granville

In 1755 North Carolina Governor Arthur Dobbs visited Ocracoke Inlet, and ordered that Fort Granville, which had been authorized for Portsmouth Island but never constructed, be finally built. Portsmouth was designated as the site of the fort because it was "a Maratime Town, far distant from the bulk of the Inhabitants of this Province, and liable to the Depredations of an Enemy in Time of War, and Insults from Pirates and other rude People in Time of Peace."

The fort was designed as "a fascine* Battery secured by piles, with 2 faces; one to Secure the passage in coming down a Narrow Channel to this Harbour, and the other to play across the Channel where it is not above 300 yards wide."

Fascines

By 1757 Fort Granville was finally manned with a small company. The next year 53 officers and men were stationed at the the fort. By 1762 less that half that number served at Fort Granville. The next year only five soldiers were stationed at Portsmouth, and the garrison was decommissioned with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1764, which ended the French and Indian War.

*fascine: a bundle of rods or sticks bound together, often used in military operations.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is Lachlan Howard's essay about the Fresnel Lens and its use in theater, solar ovens, cameras, and industry, as well as lighthouse illumination. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-fresnel-lens/.