Colonial Game Night at Fort Frederica-Fox and Geese

Date: November 10, 2008
Contact: Ellen Strojan, 912-638-3639

The National Park Service at Fort Frederica National Monument is pleased to announce the details of an upcoming program designed to highlight colonial board games there were once played in taverns throughout Frederica.

On Saturday, November 15th at 7 pm, join a park ranger to learn how to play the colonial game of Fox and Geese. This game was a popular peg game that dates back to the 14th century. On the edge of the colonial frontier life could be both exciting and mundane.  Games like Fox and Geese were played to connect with neighbors, as well as, earn a little extra spending money.  After the rules are explained the remainder of the evening will be spent playing the game and discussing the gamble the settlers took leaving their secure homes in England to establish the town of Frederica.

Fort Frederica National Monument is located at 6515 Frederica Road on St. Simons Island. Regular park admission fees apply to this program. Admission fees: Children age 15 and under are free. Visitors age 16 and over are $3.00 each.  Interagency passes (Golden Age Pass, Annual Pass) are accepted at Fort Frederica. For more information, please contact the Visitor Center at [phone].

Background: Fort Frederica National Monument is one of America’s national parks. Established in 1936 and dedicated in 1947, the park preserves the incredibly rich archaeological remains of one of Great Britain’s strongest forts in the colony of Georgia. It was on St. Simons Island in 1742 that British troops from Frederica and Darien decisively defeated Spanish Floridians in the Battles of Gully Hole Creek and Bloody Marsh. Ironically, the very battles that saved Frederica from destruction by the Spanish doomed the town and fort to ruins. Without a Spanish threat, Britain pulled Frederica’s soldiers out of the fort and the settlers left as the town’s economy suffered. All but abandoned, the town of Frederica slipped into history. Time has worn down the earthworks protecting the town, yet the ruins and foundations of the buildings remain as a visual reminder of the struggle for empire on Georgia’s coast. Today, the National Park Service, with assistance of the Fort Frederica Association and volunteers, preserve these symbols of our colonial past and share them with visitors from around the world.