Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 9

Table Glass Excavated at Fort Amherst, Prince Edward Island

by Paul McNally

Introduction

Fort Amherst, situated near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Fig. 1), was built by the British in 1758 after the capitulation of the Fortress of Louisbourg, on or near an Acadian settlement which dated from 1720. Between 1758 and 1763 the garrison at the fort varied between 110 and 190 men. The fortification lost its military importance in 1763 with the end of the Seven Years' War, but some two companies (totalling 110 men) remained until the summer of 1768 when the fort was abandoned. Chief Justice John Duport took up residence at the site for an undetermined length of time in 1771 and after 1771 the site was used for agricultural purposes (Hornby 1965; Gillis: personal communication).

1 Eastern Canada, showing the locations of sites mentioned. (click on image for a PDF version)

Partial archaeological investigation of the site was conducted by John H. Rick and Ian C. Rodger of the National Historic Parks and Sites Branch in 1963 (Rick 1970: 23-5). This paper is a study of the table glass recovered in the course of the excavations.