The Fort at Pearson Hobbstown
The Fort at Pearson Hobbstown When the first proprietors began planning a settlement on the lands that would eventually become Standish, they faced a difficult and uncertain task. The area was remote, roads were few, and relations with Native peoples remained unsettled. Although the proprietors were eager to establish families on their new lands, they recognized that settlement could not safely proceed without some means of protection. The need for a fortified place became increasingly urgent as reports of hostilities reached the eastern settlements of Massachusetts. For the men and families who hoped to make their homes at Pearson Hobbstown, a fort would provide not only a place of refuge in times of danger, but also the security necessary for the settlement itself to survive. The proprietors soon decided that it would be necessary to erect a fort before settlement could safely begin. In May of 1752, Captain Humphrey Hobbs and twenty grantees petitioned the General Court of Mass...