030321 VLP Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga readies for new season LEE MANCHESTER, Lake Placid News TICONDEROGA — As countered a band of Mohawk Iro- name brought the eastern foothills American forces prepared this quois warriors, setting off the first of the Adirondack Mountains into week for a new war against Iraq, battle associated with the Euro- the territory worked by the voya- historians and educators in Ti- pean exploration and settlement geurs, the backwoods fur traders conderoga prepared for yet an- of the North Country. whose pelts enriched New other visitors’ season at the site of Champlain’s journey down France. Ticonderoga was the America’s first Revolutionary the lake which came to bear his southernmost outpost of the War victory: Fort Ticonderoga. A little over an hour’s drive from Lake Placid, Ticonderoga is situated — town, village and fort — in the far southeastern corner of Essex County, just a short stone’s throw across Lake Cham- plain from the Green Mountains of Vermont. Fort Ticonderoga is an abso- lute North Country “must see” — but to appreciate this historical gem, one must know its history. Two centuries of battle It was the two-mile “carry” up the La Chute River from Lake Champlain through Ticonderoga village to Lake George that gave the site its name, a Mohican word that means “land between the wa- ters.” Overlooking the water highway connecting the two lakes as well as the St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers, Ticonderoga’s strategic importance made it the frontier for centuries between competing cultures: first between the northern Abenaki and southern Mohawk natives, then between French and English colo- nizers, and finally between royal- ists and patriots in the American Revolution. It was at Ticonderoga that, in 1609, French explorer Samuel One of Fort Ticonderoga’s prized collection of 18th century artillery de Champlain and his party of stands guard on the fort’s restored southern deck, overlooking the Huron and Abenaki guides en- passage across Lake Champlain to Vermont. French territory. the authority from the Continental Unable to immediately In 1755 the French began Congress. These two joined breach the battlements at Fort Ti- building the star-shaped stone forces in Vermont and hatched a conderoga, Burgoyne did what battlements of Fort Carillon atop plan for the attack.” appeared to be the impossible: He the prominence overseeing Lake Arnold, Allen and the Green and his troops cut a road through Champlain and the La Chute Mountain Boys crossed Lake the brush, hauling their artillery River to guard their frontier. Champlain in the early morning up the steep slope of Mount Defi- Within three years, however, darkness on May 10, 1775. Qui- ance, across the La Chute. From Britain poured troops up from etly, quietly, they opened the there, the British bombarded the Lake George, named for their fort’s heavy, wooden door, American positions. king, to challenge the French po- walked in, and demanded its sur- “The Americans packed up sition. On July 8, 1758, Scot- render from the sleepy, surprised their stuff,” Simpson said, “and in land’s Black Watch Regiment led British. Fort Ticonderoga, the dead of night, on July 6, they a British attack on Carillon. manned by just 50 troops — snuck out as quietly as they Though the British outnumbered mostly invalids and old men, ac- could, crossing the floating the French by 3-to-1, the fort cording to Simpson — fell to the bridge to Fort Independence and withstood the attack. The bloody Americans without a shot being eventually retreating to Sara- battle left 3,000 soldiers of the fired. toga.” Black Watch dead on the field. It was not until the next win- There they joined a gather- The following year, how- ter, however, with ice covering ing of American forces that grew ever, the British returned to Caril- Lake Champlain and snow on the to nearly 10,000 troops. When lon, this time defeating the Green Mountains, that American Burgoyne caught up with them on French. Before they withdrew, forces were able to haul away the Sept. 13, he was in for the sur- the French forces blew up as fort’s 59 one-ton guns, pulling prise of his life. There at Sara- much of the fort as they could. them cross-country on sleds to toga, the tides of the war turned British Fort Ticonderoga was the hills overlooking Boston har- in the patriots’ favor. built over the French foundations. bor. On March 17, 1776, the Ti- When the British abandoned conderoga guns forced the British Fort Ticonderoga after the Revo- Revolutionary Ticonderoga navy to retreat. lution, it quickly fell to waste. Sixteen years passed under During the American occu- By the time General George British control — and then came pation of Fort Ticonderoga, the Washington visited the site, in the Revolution. patriots were very, very busy. 1783, he found it in ruins — and On April 19, 1775, the “shot They fortified the opposite ruins it remained for more than a heard round the world” was fired prominence across Lake Cham- century. in the Battle of Lexington and plain in Vermont, creating Fort Concord, starting America’s War Independence, linking the two The long wait for rebuilding of Independence. The Continental outposts with a floating bridge. Ironically, it was the son of Army, starting from scratch, They also outfitted Amer- an exiled Loyalist family who armed only with pitchforks and ica’s first naval fleet, commanded was responsible for initially se- hunting rifles, desperately needed by Benedict Arnold. Though de- curing Fort Ticonderoga from artillery. Two men independently feated later in 1776 at the Battle complete decay. came up with a scheme to take of Valcour Island, that fleet William Ferris Pell was born the remote, lightly held outpost at stalled a British advance south- in 1779 in Westchester. His fam- Fort Ticonderoga, giving the pa- ward from Canada. ily fled during the Revolution to triots nearly five dozen state-of- The next year, British Gen- the Maritimes, returning to the the-art British cannon. eral John Burgoyne began an- new United States in 1786. By “Ethan Allen had the men,” other march south, taking the fort 1806 the family had established a explained Lisa Simpson, publicist at Crown Point, north of Ticon- thriving auction house and im- for the Fort Ticonderoga Associa- deroga on Lake Champlain, in port/export firm in New York tion, “and Benedict Arnold had late June 1777. City. In 1820, taken with the natu- approached her father, Col. panoramic view of Lake Cham- ral beauty and the picturesque Robert Thompson, seeking finan- plain and the Green Mountains. martial ruins, Pell bought 540- cial support. With the colonel’s You walk along the stone-paved acre peninsula upon which the money, Stephan and Sarah Pell deck to a low, stone passageway remains of Fort Ticonderoga bought out the outstanding family leading to a heavy, wooden door. stood. In 1826 he built an inn on shares in the property and hired “This is the door through the lake, called the Pavilion, Bossom to restore Fort Ticonder- which Ethan Allen crept the night which housed travelers taking the oga and completely renovate the they captured the fort,” Simpson fashionable “Northern Tour” up Pavilion. said. The passageway was low, Lake George and the new Cham- By 1909, the fort was suffi- she explained, “because you plain Canal from Whitehall. ciently restored to be re-opened don’t design forts where horse- Pell, however, did nothing to as a public museum, and by 1930 men can just gallop in.” rebuild Fort Ticonderoga, whose was in substantially the state it is The “museum” at Fort Ti- stones and timbers had been in today, barring the rebuilding conderoga opens all around you looted for a variety of building work begun most recently by the once you pass through that door, projects in the area prior to his Fort Ticonderoga Association, a but two buildings have been spe- purchase of the site. Tourists vis- nonprofit organization established cifically refurbished with mu- ited the fort to see the ruins of a by the Pell family to manage the seum displays on both floors. famous spot in the new country’s institution. They are dedicated to 18th cen- history; it would not be until the tury military equipment, to the first decade of the 20th century The fort today area, and to the Pell family. that visitors would be able to see From the gatehouse at the When we visited, snow and the star-shaped fortress restored entrance to the fort grounds, one ice still covered much of parade to even a shadow of its former begins the long drive in from grounds and buildings at Fort Ti- strength. Route 74, east of the village of conderoga. The fort does not With the American centen- Ticonderoga. open for visitors until May 10, nial, however, interest in preserv- “You wouldn’t have seen the day it was taken by Ethan Al- ing American historic sites came any of these trees when the fort len. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 into vogue. A federal proposal to was actively in use,” Simpson p.m. every day through Oct. 19 buy the fort and erect a monu- explained as we drove in for a this year. On average, about 600 ment was defeated in 1889, but recent visit, gesturing toward the visitors walk through the gates interest in Ticonderoga was re- woods covering the hillside. “It every day — many more than that newed in 1908 with the impend- wasn’t considered wise to leave a in July and August, many fewer ing tercentennial of Champlain’s lot of trees for enemy fighters to the other months.

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