[2] The fort was named for Governor Thomas Pownall, who oversaw its construction.

[2] The cape's eastern tip forms a narrow peninsula, with the fort's ruins on the high ground near its easternmost end.

Later, a regiment of Continental Army soldiers burnt the blockhouse and filled in most of the ditches to prevent their use by the British.

Inside the earthworks was a blockhouse, built out of squared timbers, measuring 44 feet (13 m) on each side, and two stories in height.

Because the blockhouse and other wooden elements of the fort were burned, only the earthworks and stone foundations remain.