EileenSteed: Fort Ticonderoga, New York

Ticonderoga is located on the southern end of Lake Champlain between the Adirondack mountains on the west in New York State and the Green Mountains on the east in Vermont. The day I visited the was Scottish Days and there were fife and drum teams that entertained the visitors.

This land was contested since the French first arrived 400 years ago. Samuel de Champlain along with the Algonquin indians fought the Iroquois on the Ticonderoga peninsula in 1609. 150 years later during the French and Indian war, the French built Fort Carillon in 1755 to guard the narrow waterway connecting New France and the American Colonies. There was a major battle between the French and the Brits in 1758. With the British outnumbering the French five to one, the French held the fort and it was seen as a major victory. In 1759 the British returned and captured the fort, renaming it Ticonderoga. It remained in the British hands until Ethan Allan with the Green Mountain Boys and Benedict Arnold captured the fort during an early morning raid in 1775. This was one of the first major victories in the American Revolution. Artillery was later removed from the Fort to defend Boston in March of 1776.

The Continental Army lost the Fort to the Brits in 1777. The British drove the Americans south and the two armies fought in Saratoga later that year. The Americans won, shifting the focus of the British forces out of New York and New England. The Brits burned Fort Ticonderoga and retreated to Canada.

After the war, villagers scavenged the cut stones from the Fort and used them for buildings. The Fort was never enlisted for military support again other than warehousing supplies. In 1820, the Pell family bought the land and opened it for visitors to see one of the greatest places in American History. The Pells began reconstruction pf the Fort and collecting artifacts including one of the largest collections of Revolutionary war weaponry. Fort Ticonderoga was one of the earliest historic preservation projects in US history.