McGuffey Community Park with Fort Rice’s & Brownlee Covered Bridge-Claysville, PA

McGuffey Community Park is a great little park with lot of historical value for the whole family. The park has a ball field, picnic areas, playgrounds, a covered bridge, and a Fort.

This can be a great place to spend a day. Have a barque. A birthday party. Plus with so many places, you are sure to be able to social distance.

Fort Rice

Fort Rice has been recreated as the orginal was completely gone. The greatest thing is that the Fort is open at all times that the park is open.

The rooms are open except for 2 that are locked and I image are used storage for items used during events at the Fort.

It is also really cool to look through the small holes to see the view of the park for the second story.

The rooms are great because they are like they would be back in the day. The Fort is made out of martial of of the past except a few modern screws.

Outside the Fort is a bit of a creek that has no name.

Brief History

Fort Rice was one of four Forts in Washington Country. The other three have markers but they are gone at this point. The Fort is a recreation based of a drawing.

The fort was created in the style of a fortified blockhouse by Abraham Rice during the American Revolution. In September 1782, the Fort was under siege by Native Americans.

In 1883, Samuel Kercheval recorded the history of that battle in A History of the Valley of Virginia. Read pages 302 to 307 which tells of the battle and of Rice getting shot and still defending the Fort. It was a great bit of reading for those that are into Early American history.

Brownlee Covered Bridge

The Brownlee Covered Bridge is also in the park. It was moved here in 2008. The bridge was built in the Kingpost Truss style and is 31 feet 6 inches long and 11 feet 7 inches wide. For more information about the Covered Bridge Tour check out my blog on Southwest Covered Bridge Tour of Washington, PA-Part 1 of 2 and Southwest Covered Bridge Tour of Washington, PA Part 2 of 2.