Fort Pitt Museum

06/14/2025

Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇸

that the Fort Pitt Museum is home to one of the few surviving American Revolution rattlesnake flags? Because of its delicate condition, a reproduction is typically on display. But starting today, the original is making a rare appearance!

The original flag will be on view through August. Don’t miss your chance to see this powerful piece of Revolutionary history up close – start planning your visit today!

06/11/2025

Join us this Saturday at the Fort Pitt Museum for a deep dive into battlefield banners!

Historian Steven W. Hill will uncover the stories behind the British and French regimental flags carried during the French & Indian War—how they were made, what they meant, and why they mattered on the battlefield.

Join Fort Pitt Museum for an afternoon with historian Steven W. Hill.

06/09/2025

The Fort Pitt Museum will host its annual Fourth at the Fort event in Point State Park on Friday, July 4. At 11 a.m., Fort Pitt Museum staff, scouts, and local veterans will help kick off the Fourth of July holiday by raising a 36-foot American flag.

The ceremony will commence in the Fort Pitt Block House yard, thanks to an ongoing partnership with the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, owners of the Fort Pitt Block House – the oldest building in the region.

Following the patriotic flag raising ceremony, enjoy a family-friendly afternoon of living history demonstrations and visit the Fort Pitt Museum to explore its featured exhibition, Homelands: Native Nations of Allegheny.

06/05/2025

Fort Pitt is bringing the BOOM this weekend! 💥

Join us on Saturday, June 7 to travel back to 18th-century Pittsburgh! Experience military drills and watch the Fort Pitt Cannon Crew fire the museum’s reproduction British six-pounder cannon in Point State Park.

The cannon firings will take place at noon and 2 p.m., weather permitting.

Demonstrations are free to attend in the park. Regular admission applies to enter the museum.

05/30/2025

Ready, aim, fire! 💥

Join the Fort Pitt Museum tomorrow, May 31 for live musket and rifle demonstrations in Point State Park at 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Watch as Fort Pitt interpreters fire period weapons and share the history behind them.

Demonstrations are free to attend in the park. Regular admission applies to enter the museum.

Don’t miss your shot to see (and hear!) history in action.

05/29/2025

in 1763, three men reached Fort Pitt with news that American Indians had raided Col. William Clapham's plantation on the Youghiogheny River, near what is now West Newton.

This uprising, later called Pontiac's Rebellion after the Ottawa chief who played a key role, brought together tribes from the Great Lakes and Ohio regions. They aimed to push the British army and settlers back across the mountains to keep control of their land. A few days after the raid on Clapham's plantation, Native American forces began a siege of Fort Pitt, which lasted until early August.

📷 A painting by Nat Youngblood that shows the picketed Ohio Bastion with the burned remnants of the Lower Town (destroyed in hopes of denying cover to the attacking force) in the background.

05/22/2025

to when Point State Park was just a tiny model!

In 1945, Pittsburgh businessmen gathered around this scale model to dream big about the future of the Point and its eventual transformation. From smoky industry to scenic beauty, their vision laid the groundwork for the Point State Park we know and love today.

📷 (L to R) H.J. Heinz II, head of the Heinz Company; County Commissioner John J. Kane; Edgar J. Kaufmann, head of Kaufmann's department store; City Councilman Frederick G. Weir; Mayor-elect David L. Lawrence; Mayor Cornelius D. Scully; Robert E. Doherty, President of the Carnegie Institute of Technology; Arthur E. Braun, banker and publisher; Tom Killgallen, President of the City Council; and Park H. Martin, executive director of the Allegheny Conference.

05/17/2025

Fort Pitt Museum’s new exhibition Across opens tomorrow!

At 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the artist behind the new photography exhibit, DJ Huff, will discuss his creative process, upbringing on the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York, and how his role as a cultural interpreter influences the photos he captures.

Don’t miss your chance to meet the artist and be among the first to see the exhibit!

Join Fort Pitt Museum to meet photographer DJ Huff.

05/13/2025

that when Fort Pitt was being established during the summer of 1759, two new settlements appeared in Pittsburgh?

The first, known as Lower Town, was right next to the fort on the Allegheny River's edge. The second, Upper Town, was a few hundred yards up the Monongahela River from the Point.

📷 View of 18th century Fort Duquesne. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Fort Pitt Museum.

05/12/2025

Join Fort Pitt Museum on Saturday, May 17 for the opening day of Across, a new photography exhibition by Seneca artist DJ Huff.

As part of the celebration, attendees can meet Huff in person and hear him speak about his creative process, his upbringing on the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York, and how his role as a cultural interpreter influences his photography. Across offers a contemporary look at American Indian identity, weaving together personal stories, cultural memory, and everyday beauty.

Don’t miss this opportunity to kick off the exhibit with a meaningful conversation and connect with the artist behind the lens.

Join Fort Pitt Museum to meet photographer DJ Huff.

05/09/2025

Tomorrow at the Fort Pitt Museum, join Assistant Director and historian Mike Burke for a fascinating look into the history of powder horns. These everyday objects were essential on the Forbes Road and now serve as valuable historical documents and early examples of folk art in the Pittsburgh region.

The talk will take place in the Fort Pitt Auditorium on the museum’s first floor and is included with museum admission. Don’t miss this chance to explore a unique piece of early American history!

Discover the fascinating history of powder horns with historian Mike Burke.

05/03/2025

On Saturday, May 17, the Fort Pitt Museum will unveil Across, a new photography exhibition showcasing the work of Seneca artist DJ Huff.

The exhibit invites visitors to experience contemporary American Indian identity through Huff’s lens – offering a moving and personal reflection on Native life, memory, and presence. Huff, a member of the Seneca Nation from the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York, has long been a valued contributor to the Fort Pitt Museum as a cultural educator and historical interpreter.

Across complements the museum’s current marquee exhibition, Homelands: Native Nations of Allegheny, which explores the enduring histories and vibrant cultures of the Native nations who once called Western Pa. home. Several items loaned by Huff are featured in Homelands, and his photographs in Across build on these stories, effectively blending the past and present.

📷 Portrait of DJ Huff.