NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (3-82) Exp. 10-31-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service For NPS use only National Register of Histori9 Places received Inventory—Nomination Form date entered See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries—complete applicable sections_____________________________ 1. Name historic Pittsburgh Bay National Historic Landmark and or common Cumberland Bay______________ 2. Location street & number Cumberland Bay and two sites in Pittsburgh not for publication city, town PlattSburgh_____________ __ vicinity of________ state New York code 036 county Clinton code 019 3., Classification Category Ownership Status Present Use district X public occupied agriculture museum _ building(s) private x unoccupied commercial park _ structure both work in progress educational private residence X site Public Acquisition Accessible entertainment religious ^X__ object in process yes: restricted government scientific being considered _£~ yes: unrestricted industrial transportation no military x other: see Descr 4. Owner of Property name Multiple; see continuation sheet 4-1 street & number city, town __ vicinity of state 5. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Clinton County RecnrdPr nf street & number Clinton County Courthouse city, town P1 attsburgh state New York 6. Representation in Existing Surveys titie Historic Sites Survey has this property been determined eligible? yes no date i960 federal state county _._ local depository for survey records National Park Service (sge continuation sheet 6-1) city, town Washing ton___ __________ 7. Description Condition Check one Check one __ excellent __ deteriorated __ unaltered __ original site __ good __ ruins __ altered __ moved date __ fair __ unexposed « Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance The Plattsburgh Bay National Historic Landmark, in the City and Town of Plattsburgh, Clinton County, New York consists of three sites, all linked to the naval and land engagements of September 11, 1814. These are: 1) the bay itself, including Crab Island, where the naval battle and its aftermath took place; 2) the Macdonough Memorial, a 135-foot limestone obelisk in front of the Plattsburgh City Hall; and 3) the site of Fort Brown, which was related to the repulse of the British land advance southward. Plattsburgh Bay (known as Cumberland Bay by the US Geological Survey) is an arm of Lake Chaniplain. Although the New York-Vermont boundary is in the lake, the Bay is entirely in New York. It is enclosed by the mainland on the west (on which the city of Plattsburgh is situated, at the mouth of the Saranac River); mainland on the north; and Cumberland Head on the east, a 3 1/2 mile long peninsula which curves southeasterly into the lake. The bay is open to the south; an imaginary line drawn from the tip of Cumberland Head due west to the mainland is about 2.8 miles long, and the southern tip of Crab Island is about 2 1/4 miles south of this line. The western shore of the bay, outside the boundary of this section of the landmark, includes Plattsburgh Air Force Base to the south and the city of Plattsburgh (1970 pop. 18,715). Proceeding clockwise along the shore, it curves northeasterly into a much less heavily developed area which includes a municipal beach and a state park. As the shoreline turns generally southeast, it contains scattered small-scale residences (seasonal and permanent) all the way to the tip of the head. Crab Island is about 4500 feet by 750 feet, lying generally north-south, and, at its highest point, rises 25 feet above the lake. It was not visited in the course of this study. Topographic maps show one building on it. The site of Fort Brown is within a wedge-shaped parcel of land along the Saranac River, bounded on the south by a cemetery, on the west by a sharp bend in the river and on the east by Peru Street (U.S. Route 9). The river channel and road converge at the north end of the property to define the tip of the wedge. The site is owned and maintained as an expanse of parkland by the City of Plattsburgh. The remains of Fort Brown consist of a roughly pentagonal arrangement of grassy earthworks which represent the eroded defenses of the redoubt erected by American forces in 1814. The area within the defenses contains a number of humps and circular depressions: some of these may relate to undisturbed buried archaeological features, others may be the result of illicit excavations. On the south side of the earthworks, a particularly well-defined ditch runs east-west from Peru Street to the edge of the bluff overlooking the Saranac River. A fair indication of the original plan of Fort Brown can be obtained from a map of the Plattsburgh military reservation drawn by Rufus Mclntyre in 1815 shortly after the U.S. Government expanded its base in this area. Fort Brown appears as (see continuation sheet 7-1) 8. Significance Period Areas of Significance— Check and justify below prehistoric archeology-prehistoric community planning landscape architecture . religion __ 1400-1499 X archeology-historic conservation ..._... law _.... science - _ 1500-1599 ..._.__ agriculture _ _ . economics literature sculpture __ 1600-1699 ...__._ architecture ......... education X military social/ _ _ _ 1700-1799 -art engineering ___._ music humanitarian _A_ 1800-1899 .._.._ commerce __.._ exploration/settlement -.- . philosophy ___ theater 1900- communications industry - politics/government transportation invention other (specify) Specific dates 1814, 1926 Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The three discrete sites of the Plattsburgh Bay National Historic Landmark illustrate and commemorate the Battle of Plattsburgh Bay and the related land engagement, which together drove the British from the Champlain Valley near the close of the War of 1812. The simultaneous double victory resulted in the immediate retreat of the British army towards Canada, which, according to one authority, "practically ended" the war. Two of the landmark sites—the bay itself and the remains of Fort Brown—are directly linked to the military action. The third, the Macdonough Monument in downtown Plattsburgh, is the most visible and venerated reminder of the two battles. As it became increasingly apparent in mid-1814 that the war was nearing a close (peace talks actually began on August 8), the British saw it to be in their interest to extend their influence as far southward as possible, in order to strengthen their hand at the bargaining table. They wanted any peace to include, among other things, access to Lake Champlain, and by holding Plattsburgh they would be able to include this in the negotiations. Accordingly, an invasion force estimated at between seven and fourteen thousand men under General George Prevost (Governor General of Canada) crossed into New York from Canada beginning on August 31. Following some running encounters with American troops, Plattsburgh proper (at that time entirely north of the Saranac River) was occupied on September 6. The force at this point consisted of 8200 officers and men, most of them seasoned veterans of Napoleonic campaigns. The American forces under General Alexander Macomb fell back to the south side of the Saranac River and consolidated their defenses in three forts stretching across the peninsula formed by the Saranac and the Lake: Fort Brown, the westernmost (and whose remains are included in the Landmark); east of it stood Fort Moreau, the site of which is now opposite the chapel at the head of the oval within Plattsburgh Air Force Base; and Fort Scott, the easternmost, also within the Air Force Base. The sites of the latter two are marked (possibly inaccurately) by stone monuments with bronze plaques but are not included in the Landmark. Two blockhouses and a number of storehouses were also located on the peninsula. Again, the sites of these structures are excluded from the landmark. Both sides, meanmwhile, knew that naval control of Lake Champlain was necessary for military and political control of the surrounding lands. Both had been feverishly readying ships for what would be a decisive engagement, the British at Isle-Au-Noix (on the lake about ten miles into Canada), the Americans under Lt. Thomas Macdonough at Vergennes, Vermont. (see continuation sheet 8-1) 9. Major Bibliographical References___________ Brewer, George. "A Military Sketch of Plattsburgh." In Historical Sketches of the Town of Pittsburgh 1785-1975, edited by James N. MacDonald. Plattsburgh: The Town of Plattsburgh, 1975. (See Continuation Sheet 9-1)_____________________________________ 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property j^7025______ Quadrangle name Plattsburgh, NY-VT Quadrangle scale 1:24 000 UTM References A | Ii8l I6l2i8l3i4i0l Ui9l5iOl5i8iOl I6l2i8l3i4i0l I4i9l4i6l0ili0 Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing c| lial \6\2i 3l SiSiOJ I 4i9l4i6lOiliOl I6l2i2|8i8i0l |4i9l5i2lli5iO E hi fil I fil 2i 5l 2iliQl Ui9l5i3l4i3iQl 16 I2i2l8i0i0l I4i9l4i9l2i2i0 G I L 8: I6l2i2l 7iQiOl I 4i 9J5iOl 4i5 iOl Hi i I I I . I I I I Verbal boundary description and justification (See Continuation Sheet 10-1) List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state code county code state code county code 11. Form Prepared By name/title H. and Richard W. Hunter organization Heritage Studies, Inc. __ ____ Octgber_1983_ __ street & number RD6, Box 864, Mapl eton Road_ teleptfpne (609) 452-1754 city or town Princeton state New Jersey 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: __ national __ state __ local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89- 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.