Fort James- Tyndall's Point Park Va. usa

visited a starfort site? Tell us about it!
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ranman
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Fort James- Tyndall's Point Park Va. usa

Post by ranman » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:13 pm

I have been driving past these earthworks for 40 years, today I had to stop and check it out.
My first hunch and I score.
After watching a few of Colms videos I got a good feel of their M.O. and was easily finding starsforts everywhere with goggle earth.
I began applying this new understanding to the questions I have always had with the official storyline, and this is what I found.

If you look at the earthworks around Yorktown battlefield (where the British surrendered to America) you too might question if it might have been a star fort as I did ? If Yorktown was a starfort, it would make perfect sense that the earthworks on the point directly across the river would be too.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.2496438 ... a=!3m1!1e3

There is not much left of Fort James, they built a highway thru it and used it as a base for the bridge.

http://www.gloucesterva.info/facilities ... intpark-10

Tyndall's Point Park
1376 Vernon Street
Gloucester Point , VA 23062
The park is open daily from sunrise to 1/2 hour before sunset.

I walked around and read the signs, the glass was dirty and almost hard to read, so no pictures. ( I will go back and clean).
The signs said the fort was a star shape design copied from the French (that's what it said) There where maps and pictures showing a classic 5 pointer.
I picked up a pamphlet that has the same information, this is where I got the website address, but the website doesn't mention the shape.

This is how the website reads

In 1608 a mariner named Robert Tyndall came to Virginia with Captain Christopher Newport in the first party of English settlers. They sailed the York River on a voyage of exploration. Tyndall drew a chart of the James and York River, constricting it to its narrowest dimension. Captain John Smith, who mapped Virginia in 1610, perpetuated the name Tyndall's Point but it was not until the time of the American Revolution that the area became commonly known as Gloucester Point.
During the second quarter of the seventeenth century, as the tobacco economy gained momentum, settlement encompassed the countryside across the York River. The river became an important conduit of shipping and trade. By February 1633, the colonial government decided to build a tobacco warehouse at Tyndall's Point, to serve the needs of the region's planters.
In 1667, because of the war with Holland, forts were located in a number of areas to protect the waterways of Virginia. The York River fort was located at Tyndall's Point. This same location was the site of a fort during the Revolutionary War and again during the War Between the States. The fort was officially named Fort James when it was rebuilt with brick in 1671. The structure was the first in a series of fortifications that were built at Tyndall's Point over the next 200 years. Fortifications were modified and maintained throughout the colonial period. The British army refortified the point in August 1781. The 1807 cannons were again placed at Tyndall's Point and in 1861 the confederacy built earth works and a Water Battery.
Credits: VA Research Center for Archaeology, Williamsburg; Historian Martha McCartney.

I will come up with more verification as soon as possible. I have more to share, will be back soon !

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ranman
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Re: Fort James- Tyndall's Point Park Va. usa

Post by ranman » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:32 am

I am not sure what would be consider enough proof, but I can add these points.

https://www.northamericanforts.com/East ... ml#tyndall

" Tyndall's Point Fort
(Gloucester Point Archaeological District)
(1667 - 1699, 1710 - 1749, 1756 - 1760's, 1781, 1807 - 1815, 1861 - 1864), Gloucester Point
Colonists first built palisaded Fort James (3) at Gloucester Point (then known as Tyndall's Point) in 1667 to defend against the Dutch. It was rebuilt with brick in 1671. Ten mounted and eleven unmounted guns were reported here in 1690. Gloucester Fort (1710) (15 guns) was reported in ruins after 1749 and was rebuilt with 12 guns in 1756. British fortifications also existed here during the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, consisting of a main fort (Tyndall's Fort) and four outer redoubts. The point was refortified again in 1807. The Confederate star-shaped Fort Brown (1861 - 1862) (three guns) is located at what is now Tyndall's Point Park. A small portion is still extant, but well preserved. The Union occupied it in May 1862. A 12-gun CSA water battery was located adjacent to the old colonial wharf (no remains). Other unnamed CSA seacoast batteries were also in the area. "

https://www.dailypress.com/features/his ... story.html

Two year old newspaper story stating new maps have been found and this statement:

" It also accounts for the elaborate defenses captured by the Powers map some eight months later, by which time the Confederacy had not only completed a formidable water battery defended by 11 guns but also erected two additional lines of intermediary earthworks between the river and the large, star-shaped fort that occupied the top of the adjacent heights. "

I am going to post this and then attempt to upload these old maps.

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ranman
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Re: Fort James- Tyndall's Point Park Va. usa

Post by ranman » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:54 am

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Some hand drawn pictures found with the maps.
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