Educational Programs

Visiting the Museum

What better way is there to teach history than to take students to the locations where the actual events happened? Fort Pitt gives you this opportunity. Located in Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the museum occupies the very ground that figured in a half-century of conflict and played a key role in the development of Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley.

On this point, the French and the British erected the fortifications--Fort Prince George, Fort Duquesne, Mercer's Fort, and finally Fort Pitt--that protected their claims to the early West and enabled them to trade with the Native Americans. After the contest between the two powers was settled, in 1763, Fort Pitt (and PIttsburgh, which grew up around it) was crucial to the defense and settlement of the Ohio River Valley.

Located in a re-created 18th century bastion of the fort that Great Britain built at the Forks of the Ohio River, the Fort Pitt Museum's outstanding exhibits recount the struggle that sparked the French and Indian War, explain the role Fort Pitt played in the American Revolution in the West, and address such other topics as the Whiskey Rebellion and the growth of Pittsburgh.

The Fort Pitt Museum is suitable for all ages, from elementary students through high school. Home-schooled children are also welcome.

A student's visit to the Fort Pitt Museum begins with a large, circular model of historic Fort Pitt. An interpreter will highlight the main features of the model, which depicts how the fort and its environs appeared in 1765. Next, students view a recreated trader's cabin and learn about the importance of the fur trade, aspects of Native American and colonial life, and the effects these two cultures had on each other. Two more recreated structures, a barracks room and a magazine room, depict how soldiers lived and worked in the fort. The Museum believes in a "hands-on" approach to learning, so students can not only walk into the trader's cabin, but handle trade goods--thus seeing firsthand what life was like 250 years ago.

Upstairs in the main exhibit gallery is the Fort Pitt Museum's central feature, which chronicles the principal events in Fort Pitt's history. An excellent orientation video prepares students for the original artifacts, documents, maps, images, and interactive kiosks they will see in this gallery. The scope of the exhibit covers the period from the 1750s to about 1800.

Rates for groups start at $2 per student; one chaperone per five students is admitted without charge. For planning purposes, most visits require an hour or two minimum.

While visiting the Fort Pitt Museum, visitors can enjoy the other features of Point State Park: its impressive fountain, unparalleled vista of the Forks of the Ohio, and unique views of such Pittsburgh features as the inclines, the Carnegie Science Center, Heinz Field, PNC Park, and the downtown skyline.

Lesson Plans

Now available through Explore PA History are Lesson Plans relating to the French and Indian War in Western Pennsylvania. Designed for elementary, middle, and high school classes, these include such topics as "George Washington and the Beginning of the French and Indian War", "Bushy Run, a Decisive Battle of Pontiac's Rebellion", and "A Shot in the Backwoods of Pennsylvania Sets the World Afire".

Other Educational Programs

Fort Pitt Museum, in conjunction with Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum Memorial offer a special Comprehensive Tour which features a complete history of American conflicts, from the French and Indian War through the War on Terrorism, with a Pittsburgh perspective. For details, visit Soldiers & Sailors Tours page.

The Fort Museum offers other educational programs for all ages. To learn more about these programs, call Doug MacGregor at (412) 281-9285, or email him at dmacgregor@state.pa.us.