From Historical Rutland: an illustrated history of Rutland, Vermont, from the granting of the charter in 1761 to 1911 by Rev. F. E. Davison, Rutland, Vt.: P.H. Brehmer, 1911, page 15:
About the commencement of the Revolutionary War a fort was built on North Main Street, near the corner of Terrill at the head of West Street on what was known as the burnt district, covering about half an acre of land. This was known in the early days as the Picket fort. It was built of palisades of maple. sunk in the ground some five feet and about fifteen feet high; the adjoining sides were hewn and joined together; the outside and inside were unhewn; at each corner was a flanker about eight feet square-in the nature of a bastion–so that each outside of the fort could be raked with shot from two flankers. All around the fort, five or six feet from the ground, were portholes six feet apart, only large enough at the center to admit a musket, but radiating inside and outside so that the marksman within could sweep a wide field in front. Within the fort was a small storehouse, for provisions and ammunition. The only means of entrance was a bullet-proof gate on the front or west side, a little south of the center. In the southwest [16] corner was a well. The fort is said to have been built by voluntary labor as a place of defense from Indians, British or Tories at the beginning of the war. As forts were soon after erected east and west of this, it became of little use and was gradually torn down and the pickets used for fuel. The site is now marked by an imposing granite block on the west face of which is this inscription:
"Memorial–1775–Erected on Site of Fort Rutland by Ann Story Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution–June 14, 1901."