A dig at Fort Deshler - a military outpost during the French and Indian War and with now a historic plaque off MacArthur Road recognizing its place in history - will be conducted this summer in the hopes of yielding artifacts and remnants of the once-stone structure that has its place in the early beginnings of Whitehall Township.

The Fort Deshler site is near MacArthur Road and Columbia Street, partially on what is now a busy four-lane highway and on privately owned land.

The dig will be conducted by PennDOT, Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. announced at the June 12 Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners meeting.

Lee Rackus, township bureau chief of planning, development and zoning, said the dig will involve the PennDOT right of way. Just how long the dig will take has not been ascertained. The township is relieved the Department of Environmental Protection is involved in the project; otherwise, it could have been a lengthy process just to get through the bureaucratic maze.

The MacArthur Road 75th anniversary committee will rededicate the state plaque, placed on the east side of MacArthur Road, in October.

Fort Deshler was utilized not only for military personnel, but to house settlers, store equipment and for other needs associated with the conflict. Thomas Jefferson was in charge of all such military outposts across the commonwealth at the time.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, the impressive plaque - gold lettering on a blue background and the state seal at the top - states the following: “A substantial stone structure, used as a military post and as a refuge for settlers against attack, was nearby on the north bank of Coplay Creek. It was built in 1760 by Adam Deshler, a native of Switzerland. Remaining in his family for several generations, the building was owned by the Coplay Cement Company after 1899 and stood until about 1940.”