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Fort Phoenix State Reservation

1925 establishments in MassachusettsFairhaven, MassachusettsParks in Bristol County, MassachusettsProtected areas established in 1925State parks of Massachusetts
Fairhaven Beachfront
Fairhaven Beachfront

Fort Phoenix State Reservation is a public recreation area on Buzzards Bay in the town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The reservation encompasses 28 acres (11 ha) adjacent to the remains of Fort Phoenix, an American Revolutionary War fort and national landmark from which the reservation takes its name. Off shore, the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War was fought near the Elizabeth Islands, which may be visible from the remnants of the fort's ramparts. The state park is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, while Fort Phoenix is separately managed and maintained by the town of Fairhaven.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fort Phoenix State Reservation (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fort Phoenix State Reservation
Old Forte Road,

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N 41.624166666667 ° E -70.898888888889 °
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Fort Phoenix Beach State Reservation

Old Forte Road
02719
Massachusetts, United States
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Fairhaven Beachfront
Fairhaven Beachfront
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Fort Phoenix
Fort Phoenix

Fort Phoenix is a former American Revolutionary War-era fort located at the entrance to the Fairhaven-New Bedford harbor, south of U.S. 6 in Fort Phoenix Park in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The fort was originally built in 1775 without a name, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Just off the fort, in Buzzards Bay, was the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, the Battle off Fairhaven on 14 May 1775.On 5–6 September 1778, the fort was destroyed by the British when they raided the harbor. A force under Major Israel Fearing drove off the British, both at the fort and when they attempted an attack on the town the next day. The fort was then renamed Fort Fearing. In 1784 it was given the name "Fort Phoenix" after the mythical bird that rose from its own ashes. The fort was rebuilt in 1798, and rebuilt again in 1808 with 12 guns with Commonwealth resources, contemporary with but not part of the second system of US fortifications.In the War of 1812, HMS Nimrod bombarded the fort on 13 June 1814 when the local militia refused to surrender some guns. After an exchange of fire Nimrod sailed away. Local accounts differ as to whether she launched boats carrying a landing party that were driven off, or not. This event is confused in some references with an attack by the same ship on Falmouth on 29 January 1814.The fort currently has five iron cannons mounted on reproduction wooden carriages. The cannons are Model 1819 24-pounders. Their trunnions are marked, “W.F.” on one side and “1828” on the opposite side, indicating they were cast at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York, in the year 1828. They were installed at the fort sometime before the Civil War along with three similar guns which were later transferred out of the fort near the end of the war. There is also a smaller cannon at the fort which was captured by the Continental Marines during the raid on Nassau in the Bahamas in 1776. This raid was the first amphibious landing on foreign soil by United States Marines. This gun has been in Fairhaven since about 1777 and one of those originally installed when the fort was built. In recent years, two more cannons, mounted on field artillery carriages have been installed at the fort. Donated to the Town of Fairhaven by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the barrels of the guns are thought to date to the War of 1812, but they have no direct connection to Fort Phoenix. The fort was rebuilt with a new powder magazine and regarrisoned with eight guns in the Civil War.During World War II an Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) battery of four towed 37 mm guns was at the fort.Today, historical encampments are staged at Fort Phoenix in the spring and fall by a local reenacting group, the Fairhaven Village Militia.

Unitarian Memorial Church
Unitarian Memorial Church

Unitarian Memorial Church is a historic church on 102 Green Street in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, home to the Unitarian Universalist Society of Fairhaven. The congregation was founded in 1819, moved into the Washington Street Christian Meetinghouse in 1832, and called its first minister in 1840. The Reverend Jordinn Nelson Long is its currently serving minister, and the Society President is Lawrence DeSalvatore. UUSF is a member congregation of the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association, and a designated GLBTQA Welcoming Congregation, a UUA Honor Congregation, and a part of the Green Sanctuary movement. Services are held in the neo-Gothic sanctuary at 10:30 a.m. from September through mid-June each year. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The Unitarian Memorial Church in Fairhaven was built, financed and donated to the Unitarians in 1904 by Henry H. Rogers in memory of his mother, Mary Eldredge Huttleston. The church was designed by Boston architect Charles Brigham in a Gothic Revival style. It is one hundred fourteen feet (34.75m) in height, one hundred feet (30.48m) long in body and fifty-three feet (16.15m) wide. The nave is thirty-two feet (9.75m) wide and seventy-one feet (21.64m) long. The main aisle is sixty-two feet (18.90m) long and six feet (1.83m) wide. The church, parish house and former parsonage (now Harrop Center) of the Unitarian Society are so placed as to form three sides of a quadrangle, set among well-kept lawns and shrubbery. Granite (locally quarried) with Indiana limestone decorative carvings dominate the exterior while marble and limestone carvings dominate the interior. All stonework artistry was created by forty-five Italian craftsmen brought to Fairhaven by Rogers.