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The Blockhouses at Clyde

Writer's picture: Tom SawtelleTom Sawtelle

Updated: Dec 7, 2017

The CLYDE BLOCKHOUSE is a misnomer. There were actually a series of trading posts and fortifications at Clyde which have collectively become known as the Clyde Blockhouse.

All of the known or possible "blockhouses" at Clyde:


1709 - French trading post built or used by Joncaire. Probably a cabin or collection of huts. Abandoned about 1717.


1722 - Blockhouse built by a Lt. Jacob Verplank, Harmanus Schuyler, and David Van der Hayden. Threatened at Sodus Bay, the entire expedition later retreated to the blockhouse and "prepared for its defence". This probably involved building a stockade. Used by subsequent trading expeditions, until c. 1724.


1756 - Stockade fort with two blockhouses, built by Sir William Johnson, for the Cayuga Indians. The fort doubled as a trading post, and may have been garrisoned 1758-60. Abandoned by 1764, it was later used by British Loyalists during the Revolution as a depot. A remaining blockhouse was used by smugglers until attacked and burned by State Militia in 1788.


1789 - Cabin / storehouse built at site of the 1756 blockhouse by Brig.-Gen. John Fellows. Used as a camping place by others for many years. Speculated to have been the blockhouse.


1809 - Blockhouse built on south side of river, by Jonathan Melvin, Jr. The first meeting of the Town of Galen was held inside, in 1812. The structure was destroyed after 1820.


c. 1830 - Masons fortified an old house, on the west side of village, with loopholes and barricades. Attacked by a stone-throwing mob during the Anti-Masonic Movement, this was the last defensive structure in Clyde.


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