Gist's Plantation
Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Christopher Gist, the Ohio Company surveyor who went to Fort LeBoeuf with Washington, settled here in 1753. In 1754, Washington halted his campaign here and retreated to Fort Necessity. Pursuing French destroyed the plantation.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Christopher Gist was a frontier surveyor for the Ohio Company who accompanied the young George Washington on his 1753 mission to warn the French at Fort LeBoeuf. He settled this plantation in the wilderness in 1753, but the following year the frontier war caught up with it: Washington paused his campaign here in 1754 before falling back to Fort Necessity, and pursuing French forces destroyed the place. It was one of the earliest English settlements west of the Alleghenies.
Why it matters
Gist's plantation sat at the flashpoint where British and French ambitions collided, helping ignite the French and Indian War that would reshape the map of North America.
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Related people
- · Christopher Gist
- · George Washington
Related events
- · French and Indian War
Themes & tags
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