This photograph of a watercolor shows Pemaquid Point on August 26, 1869. The watercolor image was likely made to commemorate Maine Historical Society's "field day" gathering, held at the site in Bristol on that same day. A poem by Maria W. Hackelton, entitled "Jamestown of Pemaquid... read on the site of Fort Frederic, on the reception of the committee of the Maine Historical Society by the citizens of Bristol, August 26, 1869" described the day's events.

Several colonial forts once occupied the site, starting with Shurte's Fort (1630), Fort Pemaquid (1633), Fort Charles (1677), Fort William Henry (1692.) Fort William Henry was destroyed by the French and their allies in 1696. Several iterations of Fort Frederick occupied the site until it was destroyed by the town of Bristol in 1759. Components of Fort William Henry were reconstructed in the early 20th century.