THE POWDER HOUSE

by Tony

In the war of 1812 the town of Wiscasset was getting ready for the British to come to Wiscasset. Wiscasset needed a safe place to store their gun powder so they set up a committee to build a Powder House. They bought a 12 foot by 12 foot piece of land in some woods. When they built the Powder House they built the door away from the Sheepscot River so enemies in the river could not break down the door.

It is a good thing that they built it in the woods so they could not see the Powder House. If they built it in the town and a man came by and threw a cigarette in the Powder House it would do a lot of damage to the town. But if it was in the woods it wouldn't cause a lot of damage. Every week they had a drill with guns and they would get free powder from the Powder House. Now the town has the key to the door. We do not use the Powder House any longer.

We scanned this image from Images of America Around Wiscasset by Jim Harnedy.

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