Friends of Fort Necessity August Lecture

Date: July 26, 2011

Farmington, PA - The August installment of the Friends of Fort Necessity Lecture Series features local history teacher Joshua Scully, on Wednesday, August 10. The presentation takes place at Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Farmington, PA, 7 to 8 p.m. in the Park's Visitor Center. This event is free and open to the public.

Mr. Scully, a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania, will discuss "From Quebec City to Port-au-Prince:The Ambitious Rise and Sudden Fall of France's North American Empire."The presentation focuses on French land claims in North America and their importance, both economically and politically, to France's empire.

"Mr. Scully's presentation will give visitors a unique look at early American colonial history," said MaryEllen Snyder, Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services at Ft. Necessity. "Often, when we learn about our colonial history, it is dominated by the perspective of the British. This is a good opportunity for visitors to explore the history of North America from a French point of view."

Topics of the discussion include French motivation for colonization, French-Native American relations, the importance of Southwestern PA to the French Empire, reasons for the French and Indian War, and the decline of French influence in North America.

While at California University, Mr. Scully extensively studied the exploration and colonization of North America, focusing on Greenland and Canada.He is a Geography and American History teacher at A.J. McMullen Middle School in Markleysburg, PA.

For more information on this and other programs at Fort Necessity, please call [phone] or visit the park's web site at www.nps.gov/fone.

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