Trucker's Mill
Slatington, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
A sawmill, built before 1755, and used as a station for troops at time of the French and Indian War, stood about 200 feet north of here. Known also as Kern's Fort, its position on two pioneer roads gave it much military value.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
A sawmill standing here before 1755 turned the forests of the Lehigh Valley into lumber for a growing frontier. When the French and Indian War set the backcountry ablaze, the sturdy mill — also called Kern's Fort — became a defensive station and shelter for troops. Sitting at the crossing of two pioneer roads, it commanded a position of real military value in a dangerous borderland.
Why it matters
It captures how ordinary frontier industry doubled as frontline defense during the French and Indian War, when a miller's blockhouse could stand between settlers and destruction.
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Related events
- · French and Indian War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First School Slate Factory
Slatington, PA · est. 2003
In 1847 a small factory near this spot in the Lehigh Valley began turning locally quarried slate into the blackboards and writing slates that would become fixtures of the American classroom. The trade boomed alongside the nation's expanding public schools, and by the early 20th century Slatington's works were churning out more than a million pieces a year, crowning the borough as the country's leading producer of slate and blackboards.
Slate Industry
Slatington, PA · est. 2002
The region around Slatington grew into one of the largest slate-producing centers in the United States after Welsh entrepreneur William Roberts spotted slate near a local barn in 1844. He and fellow Welsh immigrants opened a cluster of quarries, including the vast "Big Franklin" and the "Williams" quarry famous for making school slates. Their work helped fuel the popularity of slate roofing across America in the later 19th century.
Fort Allen
Franklin Township, PA · est. 1947
In 1756, as the French and Indian War set the Pennsylvania frontier ablaze with raids, the province built a chain of stockaded forts to shield its scattered settlers. Fort Allen was one link in that defensive line, raised on the site of present-day Weissport along the Lehigh. Benjamin Franklin himself oversaw the construction of forts in this region during that anxious winter, when the backcountry felt anything but safe.
Fort Allen Well
Weissport, PA · est. 1971
In 1756, as the frontier violence of the French and Indian War pushed Pennsylvania settlers into panic, the colonial government threw up a chain of defensive forts along the Blue Mountains. Fort Allen at present-day Weissport was among them, and its construction was overseen personally by Benjamin Franklin, then a colonial official who marched into the backcountry to organize the province's defenses. The fort itself is long gone; only its stone well survives, restored and tucked behind the houses across the road.