Saturday morning, we left Saratoga Springs to drive 26 miles due north to Fort William Henry at the southern end of Lake George.
Since Fort William Henry would be our destination the next day, we drove along the shoreline of Lake George for its entire 31-mile length.
My son exclaimed: Wow, all of this is one lake?
PLACE BETWEEN THE GREAT WATERS
A few miles past the northern end of Lake George brought us to our destination, Fort Ticonderoga, site of the French and Indian War and American Revolution.
Built on land that juts into the 110-mile-long Lake Champlain, the Mohawks called the land upon which the fort sits Ticonderoga, meaning a place between the great waters.
The La Chute River winds 3.5 miles from Lake George to Lake Champlain, which begins in southern Canada.
Surrounded by the Adirondack, the hazardous series of rapids of the La Chute River renders it impossible to navigate by boat.
This land, or portage, is essential to carry boats between the enormous glacial lakes, since the La Chute River is surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains.
FRENCH ESTABLISH TRADING POST
In 1609 Samuel de Champlain named a 110-mile-long lake, Lake Champlain.
Later in 1646 a French catholic priest named a 32-mile-long lake to the south of Lake Champlain, Lac du Saint Sacrament.
This area that became the site for a French trading post was named Carillon for its founder, Phillippe de Carrion in 1667.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
Nearly a hundred years later, in 1755, the French governor of Canada established Fort Carillon on the portage to ensure French control of this strategic area during the onset of the French and Indian War.
Meanwhile the British were building Fort William Henry at the southern end of Lake George (stay tuned for our visit to that location).
In 1758, a British army of 15,000 men defeated the French troops, comprised of only 3500 men, serving under General Montcalm.
The following year another British general attacked Fort Carillon, driving away the French.
Taking control, the British renamed the fort, Ticonderoga.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, Benedict Arnold, informed the Massachusetts Committee of Safety that arms and ammunition could be easily gained from Fort Ticonderoga.
With orders to take up to 400 men, the newly promoted Benedict Arnold prepared to attack Fort Ticonderoga, except Ethan Allen, who led the Green Mountain boys of Vermont, had the same idea.
Together they took the fort without struggle, since the British were fast asleep for which Ethan Allen got the credit, while Benedict Arnold fumed.
That winter General Henry Knox arrived from British occupied Boston, seeking cannons, which he and his men dragged across the frozen lakes, back to Boston.
The British awoke the next morning to find American cannons pointing down at them, so they fled!
Meanwhile Fort Ticonderoga became the staging ground for an attack on Quebec.
To this effect, Benjamin Franklin arrived at the old fort on April 11, 1776, with a special committee from the Continental Congress…to assess the situation in Canada, and attempt to allay fears among French Canadian Catholics, that they will be welcome in the United States. –Fort Ticonderoga
In the meantime, Benedict Arnold led the navy to push back the British army from invasions on Fort Ticonderoga, while planning his own naval attack on Quebec.
In July 1777 British General Burgoyne’s men hauled cannon up nearby Mount Defiance, forcing the Americans to cede the fort.
However, shortly before the Battle of Saratoga, the American’s regain control of the strategic fort.
By 1783 the theater was inactive enough that George Washington toured the ruins while waiting for the official declaration of peace and the end of the Revolutionary War. –Battlefields
Fort Ticonderoga was a terrific experience with stunning scenery and impressive architecture.
I felt like I was in Europe!
We had fun running around taking pictures of all the angles! We did a lot of that before we did any tours, to get an idea of the lay of the fort.
That evening the kids volunteered their digital cards so that I could download their pictures with mine. We took hundreds of pictures, but I managed to whittle them down!
There were also great redoubts built by the French at the entrance to the fort. These are another ancient type of military fortification.
My kids begged to get out of the car as we exited to see these after a long day climbing around the fort!
COLONIAL REVIVAL
After the American Revolution when the fort fell into disuse, local residents took stones from the fort for their own building projects.
In 1820 William Ferris Pell purchased the ruins to build a summer home below the ruins, while halting destruction of the historic fort.
In 1909, the Pell family began reconstruction of the historic fort, along with a garden called the King’s Garden below the fort.
This reconstruction set the pace for colonial revival, to preserve history.
Even though the kids read all about this place a few years ago when we studied the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, they now experienced the importance of it.
You can’t be surrounded by these glacial lakes without “getting it”.
