Waterford, PA is the site of the original French Fort LeBoeuf, founded in 1753 and visited by George Washington. This Fort went on to become a British and American Fort. On this property, now sits the Eagle Hotel, the Amos Judson House, and the Fort LeBoeuf Museum. The Historical Society was founded in 1973, expressly to save the Eagle Hotel as there were efforts underway to tear down this stunning piece of history. This small but tenacious team encountered a new challenge when the state decided to no longer maintain the Amos Judson House and the Fort LeBoeuf Museum in 2015. This continues to challenge our small organization financially to maintain and preserve these amazing buildings. One of our income streams comes from the privately owned Sugar and Spice Hotel, housed in the Eagle Hotel. The rental of the restaurant helps, but is not enough to carry all the financial burden of the campus.
Some of our fundraising efforts, include:
- Annual Waterford Days
- Fort LeBoo Fest
- Witches Tea
- Walking Tours
- Paranormal Events
- Holiday House Tours
- Pierogi Fundraiser
- Golf Outings
- Colonial Christmas
Check our calendar for dates and times, and follow our Facebook page for more event details.
We also have gifts shops unique to each building, and work hard to find grants and monies available from the private sector.
Last, but certainly not least, the campus depends on the generosity of the public. Please consider helping us by leaving donations at our various locations or right here by clicking the button below. If you would like to designate a specific building to receive your donation, please write that in the special instructions box on the donation page. Otherwise, your donations will be used for the most needed work at the time.
To learn more about our work and buildings, visit our Facebook Page, to stay on top of our events and also, to enjoy our “Walk and Talk Around Waterford” Facebook Live Series, showcasing People, Properties, and Events.
Currently, we are working on building a permanent forge at the Fort LeBoeuf Museum. If you drive through Waterford, you will notice that there is a wooden structure being built. Once done, the museum will be offering blacksmithing demonstrations as well as continuing knife making classes.
We are also working on building a Certified Colonial Teaching Garden in the open space behind Washington Park. This garden will contain flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables which will be used to offer classes in cooking, canning and preserving. We also hope to add a Farm to Table dinner in the Fall as an additional fundraising event for the garden. Our hope is to offer additional teaching opportunities to the school students with a potting shed, rain water recycling barrels, and compost bin. At this stage, we are trying to get water piped into the area to aid in the future care of the plants and trees before we start building raised-bed gardens and walkways.
We are in need of a security system as we have had some vandalism problems in the past. The more we invest our limited funds into the campus, the more concern we have about protecting those investments. The security system is a priority for the campus, but it comes with a hefty price tag. We are looking to raise funds for that much needed investment.
There are other “wishlist” items for our sites, but we need to wrap up some of the current projects first.