Old Fort Western continues its 2022 The Year of the Fort celebration with Four Forts, One Story, an archaeological bus tour. People can join the archaeologists who helped excavate each site on a day-long excursion on Saturday, June 11, according to a news release from Linda Novak, fort curator and director.

Beginning at Fort Western at 9:15 a.m. the bus will head down river to Fort Richmond Park in Richmond. Once there, Dr. Leith Smith, Maine Historic Preservation Commission historic archaeologist, will give a tour of the Fort Richmond (1721-55) archaeological site.

The next stop will be Pownalborough Court House in Dresden, where Leon Cranmer, retired preservation commission historic archaeologist, will give a tour of the Fort Frankfort/Shirley (1752-59) archaeological site.

The bus will then head to Augusta where Cranmer, along with Emerson Baker, history professor at Salem University, will share information on Fort Western’s (1754-67) archaeological excavations.

The last stop will be in Winslow, where Cranmer will give a tour of the Fort Halifax (1754-66) archaeological site. Dr. Bruce Bourque, emeritus curator of archaeology at the Maine State Museum, and emeritus senior lecturer in anthropology at Bates College in Lewiston, will also be present. Early in Bourque’s career he worked on several of these fort sites.

The bus will return to Fort Western at 4 p.m.

This tour coincides with Winslow’s Fort Halifax Days, where there will be demonstrations, music and vendors. This tour also coincides with Pownalborough Courthouse’s Living History Weekend, where the Colonial Maine Living History Association will demonstrate 18th-century skills and activities.

Upon arriving at the fort, participants will be given a fort passbook, and at each site they will receive an information card pertaining to that site to place into it. They will also be given passes to return to Pownalborough Court House and Old Fort Western for more in-depth tours of the museums any day and time during their normal hours.

Before leaving for Winslow, a choice of box lunches will be provided by Wrapped Up in Augusta.

The cost for this program is $50. To register, call 207-626-2385. Registration closes at 4 p.m. Friday, June 3. For registration materials and box lunch options, go to oldfortwestern.org.

Fort Western plans to reopen for tours on Saturday, May 28, for its 2022 tour season.

To learn the Fort’s tour schedule and fees, and to learn more about other scheduled events, go to oldfortwestern.org, call 207-626-2385, or find it on Facebook at Old Fort Western – Augusta, Maine.