Fort to Port Histories

Fort to Port Histories Located in the Maumee River Valley of Northwest Ohio.

Fort to Port Histories is a historical educational resource on social media, the internet, in the classroom, for museum and community organizations, and also living history and reenactment events.

THE MAUMEE RIVER - GRAND RAPIDS, OHIO - - - The Maumee River is a State of Ohio scenic river. The Maumee River watershed...
08/28/2026

THE MAUMEE RIVER - GRAND RAPIDS, OHIO - - -

The Maumee River is a State of Ohio scenic river. The Maumee River watershed sits in the Maumee River Valley. The valley was created by the glaciers that moved across the land both compacting the soils beneath the ice and by plowing and scrapping the land flat.

As the ice melted the melt waters formed the creeks, streams, and rivers found in the valley today. This melted water would converge and create the Maumee River. The first people who would discover the Maumee River were ancient American Indian people.

Their language, names, and identities remain a mystery today. However, they left behind stone, bone, and clay artifacts that help craft a narrative history that helps explain the human habitation along the Maumee. Eventually the ancient peoples would give way to the historic peoples and some of the major tribes that lived along the Maumee River.

Those famous tribes were the Odawa (Ottawa), and Myaamiaki (Miami). One of the most famous Myaamiaki (Miami) Chiefs who lived along the Maumee River, outside of now present day Defiance, Ohio was Chief Mihsihkinaqhkwa (Little Turtle).

Today the Maumee River continues to be a hub of human activity and many cities and communities dot its banks. Most of those cities sit on top of former American Indian villages including Defiance, Florida, Damascus, Grand Rapids (where this photo was taken), Waterville, Maumee, Perrysburg, and downtown Toledo.

This history is a reminder that the Maumee River has been and will continue to be a critical tributary in the Great Lakes.

It has sustained human life for over 9,000 years. So let’s keep it clean, enjoy it, and harness and capture the beauty.

This photo was captured by Fort to Port Histories as the sun set over the Maumee River in Grand Rapids, Ohio at the State Park.

Post your favorite photo of the Maumee River or leave a comment of your favorite Maumee River memory or spot!

Interesting Fact: Today both the Ottawa and Miami tribes exist and are located on reservation lands in the west. They continue to engage and remain active with the State of Ohio and visit their ancestors lands.

LAKE ONTARIO - Ontarí’io - LAKE AMERICA - - - For over 400 years Lake Ontario has been called Ontario. Today that name h...
08/27/2026

LAKE ONTARIO - Ontarí’io - LAKE AMERICA - - -

For over 400 years Lake Ontario has been called Ontario. Today that name has changed. So let’s take a brief look at where the name Ontario came from. The original pronunciation, ontari’io originated with tribes living along the lakes shores.

The two major tribes credited for the name are the Wyandot (Huron) and the Iroquois. It is their language which had the word ontarí’io. This word means “great lake” or “lake of shining waters”.

It was this name that the early explorers in the 1600s would give the lake. The earliest maps even included this name in a variety of spellings. The lake has a complex history of tribes using it for fishing, trade, and transportation with archaeological evidence showing human habitation over 11,000 years ago.

One of the most famous native nations to use this lake and live along it is the Iroquois Nation also known as the Five Nations. Lakes Erie, Michigan, and Huron also have names that derive from the American Indian tribes who first inhabited the lands in the Great Lakes region.

When French explorers traveled the lake in the 1600s, they tried out new names like Lac de St. Louis (named by Samuel de Champlain) and Lake Frontenac after a French governor. None of the new names stuck and the Huron/Iroquois name remained.

Until today when President Trump signed an executive order changing the name on the U.S. side of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

While Canada owns more of the lake by area the United States has pushed back explaining that the U.S. owns the deepest sections of the lake. This means the U.S. owns more of the water by mass volume.

The Whitehouse also explained that it wants to recognize American greatness and American contributions to the Great Lakes. It describes the United States as the greatest protector of the Great Lakes and says the new name is intended to honor American heritage. - - -

So what do you think? Do you like the historic name or do you like the new name? Leave a comment!



Fort to Port Histories
Taylor Moyer
The White House
Black Swamp InterTribal Foundation
MVHC - Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor
National Museum of the Great Lakes

THE 60 YEARS’ WAR for OHIO - AMERICAN REVOLUTION at FORT MEIGS - - - The name 60 Years’ War identifies a long series of ...
08/24/2026

THE 60 YEARS’ WAR for OHIO - AMERICAN REVOLUTION at FORT MEIGS - - -

The name 60 Years’ War identifies a long series of conflicts from circa 1754 through 1815 that help shape and craft the State of Ohio as we know it today.

It is NOT a single war but a larger framework that helps to define various periods of conflict in the Great Lakes and Ohio country. Some of the key conflicts that are hallmarks of this period include

the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-1765), Dunmore’s War (1774), the American Revolution (1775-1783), the Northwest Indian Wars (1790-1795) and the War of 1812 (1812-1814).

Needless to say, the next time someone complains about Ohio please remind them of the pain, suffering, and death it took to create Ohio. This weekend our unit were guests at the Northwest Territorial Alliance (NWTA) special reenactment event hosted at Fort Meigs Memorial Park in Perrysburg, Ohio.

This event is the largest Revolutionary event in Northwest Ohio. Fort Meigs is the largest reconstructed, wooden fortifications in North America!

The weekend was filled with extraordinary educational programming, battles, and tons of children’s activities.

We thank all the public that attended, Fort Meigs, the NWTA, John, Thomas, Kathleen, and Mike for their dedication and support! Our next public educational camp will be at Roche de Boeuf Festival in Waterville, Ohio on September 19, 2026.

BACK TO SCHOOL - YEAR 17 - - - I’m back to work in Northwest Ohio! In my wheelhouse instructing Senior Humanities at Tol...
08/21/2026

BACK TO SCHOOL - YEAR 17 - - - I’m back to work in Northwest Ohio! In my wheelhouse instructing Senior Humanities at Toledo School for the Arts. It’s a requirement for Seniors at TSA to pass humanities for graduation. It’s an opportunity for students to learn about our past while taking that newly gained knowledge and applying it to the present and make considerations about where we might be going. This is the second year teaching one of TSA’s newest courses, Museum Studies! I’m genuinely excited for this school year, happy to be back and already enjoying my new students. Best of luck to all the educators, parents and of course students out there!

TOUR 3 - SANDPIPER - PORT of TOLEDO - - - Thank you for a sold out boat tour in downtown Toledo! 70 people boarded the S...
08/06/2026

TOUR 3 - SANDPIPER - PORT of TOLEDO - - - Thank you for a sold out boat tour in downtown Toledo! 70 people boarded the Sandpiper and made their way down and up the beautiful Maumee River. Passengers explored the Glass City River Wall, the train bridges, and the early 1800s developments of Port Lawrence and Vistula. Conversations about the Miami Erie Canal and the Oliver House. Thank you again to all of you who purchased tickets and enjoyed the evening with J&M Cruise Lines. We have one more historic tour left coming up in September. Snag your tickets now before they sell out!

AUGUST 5 - BOAT TOUR - - - Only one ticket remains for tonight’s Sand Piper Boat Tour on the Maumee River! This evening ...
08/05/2026

AUGUST 5 - BOAT TOUR - - - Only one ticket remains for tonight’s Sand Piper Boat Tour on the Maumee River! This evening we will explore Toledo’s development! That is right! After two tours which spanned the American Indian history, forts, conflict and Indian Removal it is now time to learn about the City of Toledo’s 1800s development. Remember you can pack a cooler, byob, and get ready for an amazing evening on the Muddy Mighty Maumee River!

SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - 250th Anniversary - - - Yep. You read that title correctly. The Declaration of...
08/02/2026

SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - 250th Anniversary - - -

Yep. You read that title correctly.

The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. Yet, the vast majority of signers were not able to make the trip and sign the document until today, August 2, 1776.

It was on this date that all 56 men had their names, in ink, for the first time for the British Crown to read.

In those strokes of the quill pen, 56 men officially committed treason. They committed their name, their family name and even friends to what would be come the American Revolutionary War.

8.5 agonizing years of war lay ahead of them. That is how bad it was under the King of England. Today we almost smile with the slogans; “give me liberty or give me death” or “no taxation without representation” but the reality was these slogans were part of a serious political movement to promote freedom.

Hence the most powerful political slogan; “JOIN or DIE”.

It is in the Declaration of Independence that the colonies would declare; “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as a fundamental cornerstone of their vision for a new world. In fact it was this phrase that has continued to drive American social, cultural and economic development since its founding.

Who gets liberty?

How do we value life?

And of course what can a person pursue in the name of their own happiness?

It is these questions that our Republic built a Representative Democracy which continues to seek answers to those questions.

So when you celebrate the Fourth of July you celebrate the ratified document but the actual document was not completely signed until August 2, 1776.



DID YOU KNOW all Fort to Port Histories posts are researched by humans, created for humans, and NOT generated or made by AI.

Share our posts to help spread real history made by real people, for real people. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

JULY IS GONE - HARVEST BEGINS - - - Today marked the first cutting of askutasquash, also known by many as paddy pan squa...
08/02/2026

JULY IS GONE - HARVEST BEGINS - - -

Today marked the first cutting of askutasquash, also known by many as paddy pan squash.

This beautiful white, soft, petite squash dates back 8,000 - 10,000 BCE in North American. It is the original squash cultivated by the earliest American Indian peoples not just in North American but also ohi:yo’, today known as Ohio.

This squash was the first true squash planted in the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters is a fundamental cultivation technique mastered by early American Indians in the eastern United States.

This planting method combines corn, beans, and squash into mixed planting on a raised mound. Each of the “sisters” play a vital role in helping each other to grow. Corn provides a stalk for the green beans to climb. The beans provide nitrogen to the soil. The beautiful, big squash leaves provide shade for the roots of the corn and beans from the harsh July sun. It was corn, beans and squash that provided the main source of agricultural crops for American Indian tribes in the Great Lakes.

The paddy pan squash would be adopted by Europeans in American as well as enslaved Africans. Thomas Jefferson required his enslaved Africans to cultivate large quantities of paddy pans for use in stew flavoring.

So if this squash variety was popular with American Indians, the colonists and Africans why don’t we see it more?

Patty pan squash fell out of use primarily because its scalloped, flying-saucer shape makes it highly inefficient for industrial farming, shipping, and automated processing. When modern grocery supply chains exploded in the 20th century, straight, uniform vegetables like zucchini and straightneck yellow squash were favored because they fit perfectly into standard packing crates. That meant people did not see the paddy pan in stores and therefore it became unrecognizable to consumers.

The squash in this photo will be used in cooking demonstrations at Fort Meigs Memorial Park coming up August 22-23.

Help spread real history, written by a real person, by sharing this post and inviting your friends to follow!
Fort to Port Histories
60 Years' War for Ohio - Fort Meigs - Perrysburg, Ohio
Black Swamp InterTribal Foundation
Taylor Moyer
MVHC - Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor

Address

Waterville, OH

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Fort to Port Histories posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category