The Experience
Tours at the facility focus on a Revolutionary War battle and Fort Mifflin’s strategic location in the Delaware River at the mouth of the Schuylkill River. Situated on about 40 acres, a complex of approximately eight buildings survives with signs of the bombardment by British forces of 1,000 cannon rounds every 20 minutes.
On display are British-produced Brown Bess rifles and other war instruments. There’s also a store retailing various artifact replicas and even Colonial-style candies. Annual reenactments and other activities are punctuated with ghostly tales and the hum of airliners from the nearby Philadelphia International Airport.
History
Fort Mifflin is the oldest fortification continually used in the U.S. Almost 350 Americans died in November 1777 when British forces relentlessly bombed the place from ships. But the Americans’ valor at Fort Mifflin (named for General Thomas Mifflin who became Pennsylvania’s governor known for standing up against Virginia slave catchers) gave George Washington time to regroup at Valley Forge. The facility during the Civil War held civilians, as well as Confederate and Union prisoners.