New visitors are strongly urged to visit the visitor’s hall and view a movie about the fort. Even though we are very familiar with Fort Ticonderoga history and importance in battles, we sat and enjoyed the video. I was especially intrigued with the history of its restoration. You can read about that in my previous post, A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2.

There is SO much to see inside the buildings that I cannot possibly do it justice here. I only highlight what I found interesting, and even then I must condense it. I highly recommend that you visit the Fort, there’s something for everyone there.

Both stories of the buildings are loaded with fort memorabilia and quite a number of breathtaking archaeological finds. I was awed by this: one of the old metal armor breastplates presumably made by the first French soldiers here in the 1750s. The plaque card says the armor was discovered in 1941, built into the wall. Because of its unusual position in the wall construction, archaeologists believe the armor is a votive offering by the French masons, for “good luck.”

There were many such artifacts to be seen:

This blew me away. A piece of her wedding dress?!

A watch key was a small metal device. With it, the watch owner could wind the watch. Amazing!

George Washington had good ol’ snuff. Well, at least the snuff BOX.

I loved this.

There were many, many such engraved powder horns like this. Even Ethan Allen and Philip Schuyler had scrawled on theirs! This is one of Schuyler’s horns given to him from Paul Revere. The engraving is a verse from Proverbs.

Here is Ethan Allen’s powder horn. Ethan Allen is the famed hero of Fort Ticonderoga. He easily took the fort from the British in 1775, confiscating the stores of ammunition for the needy American army.

This is Ethan Allen’s sword. Click the image to go to the Flickr site. From there, you can view larger images.

Ethan Allen’s gun, engraved with his name.

There were quite a few personal artifacts from the Schuyler family. Alexander Hamilton married Eliza Schuyler, daughter of the great general Philip Schuyler from nearby Albany, NY. This is a four-leafed clover in a locket that had belonged to Angelica Schuyler Church, Eliza’s sister and Alexander Hamilton’s good friend.

Angelica’s wax seal. The town “Angelica, NY” in western New York State is named for Angelica Schuyler Church.

Alexander Hamilton’s sword is here!

Rosary beads, probably dating before the British and American ownership of the fort. The Brits and Americans were definitely and overwhelmingly Protestant, so the beads probably belonged to a French occupant.

This is an imposing display. Looks to be a Mohawk Indian. Mohawks were the fiercest of the Iroquois Indian tribes, probably as fierce as the Canadian Hurons.

Interesting chair. Looks to me to be something from the 1890s, perhaps.

Cool bull’s eye glass.

All in all, it was a terrific visit. I really recommend this place, just go see it!

We’d visited the Fort Ti grounds once before, sneaking in after the place had closed for the season. We walked the leaf-strewn trails and peeked over the stone walls. We didn’t see any of the interiors of the fort or the buildings, as the places were locked and we didn’t dare intrude that far. We had gotten a healthy taste of the incredible landscape, however, to taunt us for a return visit. Which, I am happy to report, we did this autumn.

After walking through the admission area and gift shop (which is loaded with stuff and I spent a bundle of money in it), you walk down a small hill that faces the south side of the fort, toward the bottom of Lake Champlain and the top of Lake George. The views are simply staggering.

Brigades of cannons line the perimeter of the fort’s stone walls. It’s like strolling through a castle. Actually, in the United States, stone forts are as close as we can get to a castle!

Fort Ticonderoga has the largest collection of cannons in the country. The older ones are very ornate, with inscribed dates, decorations, and sometimes a motto or phrase or the name of the king under whose reign the cannon was built.

The American flag flies here, but the site has seen the French fleur-de-lis and the British Union Jack fly overhead, as well.

A few plaques hint at the history of the fort as we meandered the perimeter of its walls.

Our wonderment was interrupted by a crowd gathering in the green. Two finely dressed soldiers marched to the center and called for attention. A musket drill!

The gentlemen talked about the typical life of the soldier of the fort (for most, musket drills were about as exciting as it got) and a little of the history of the fort. When we got home, the husband did a little more digging into the history of the fort:

During our most recent trip to Fort Ticonderoga, I was struck to learn these facts of it’s history:

This fort was originally built and occupied by the French in 1755, during the French and Indian War*. They called it Fort Carillon. In 1759, it was successfully captured by the British, after their previously failed attempt in 1758. They re-named it Fort Ticonderoga. Being occupied by the British, it was then captured by American revolutionaries in 1775. Then, just over 2 years later in 1777, it was successfully re-captured by the British.

“Wow, this was a busy place,” I thought. It intrigued me as to why this place would warrant such attention, so that it would change hands 3 times it in the first 22 years of it’s existence. Doing a little research, it gradually sunk in that the reason for it’s popularity owed to the 3 major selling points of all real estate: Location, location, location.

The fort is situated at the southern end of Lake Champlain, on it’s western shore. Lake Champlain, a long, narrow, north-south oriented lake, together with Lake George and the Hudson River, forms an important travel route which runs from New York Harbor (under British control at the onset of the French and Indian War) to the St. Lawrence River (then controlled by the French). This route was familiar to, and used by, Native American Indians even before European explorers discovered it during the early-to-mid 1600′s. It is relatively free from obstacles and includes only a few portages**, of which Ticonderoga is one.

The name, “Ticonderoga,” itself gives us some local geographical information. The word is derived from what the Iroquois called this area, and which means, “(the) land between two waters.” The two waters are Lake Champlain and Lake George, and the land between was the portage. Despite there being a river connecting the two lakes, the winding 3.5 mile long La Chute, knowledgeable travelers chose to make a portage here because the La Chute was full of dangerous white-water rapids. It was safer and more practical to cross on foot at a point where about 1.25 miles of dry land lay between the lakes instead. The French therefore, chose to build the fort here to control the southern end of Lake Champlain, up which any British invasion would have to come.

It would seem the ability to control travel along this major inland water route from New York Harbor to the St. Lawrence River depended heavily upon being able to control this small area here at “the land between two waters.”

* the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763.
** a portage is a point in a water route where boats and/or cargo need to be carried across land to avoid obstacles, or to get from one body of water to another.

So Fort Ti was obviously a very strategic geographic point, as it controlled the waterway.

I’ll continue more about our adventure here with Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2 in the near future. This time, we got to go INSIDE the buildings and see some very amazing artifacts!

You can see all the photos I took here at my Flickr site. I’ll showcase only the basic photos for the blog posts. I think our visit, which incorporated seeing and learning so many different things, may take up a few posts. First, some history about the Village. It’s a huge, outdoor living museum where time stopped almost 200 years ago. Really, if it wasn’t for the sounds of traffic on the main road, or the power lines visible behind the fields, you’d think you were really in the early 19th century.

On July 4, 1817, the New York State governor was in this booming town of Rome, NY. This area was the location of the official beginning of the famous Erie Canal, said to be the most incredible engineering marvel of all time. It had been the brainchild of various New Yorkers shortly after the Revolutionary War, who wanted to open up the NY wilderness. Transportation in NY in those days was over rugged country and thickly-forested hills. A man-made waterway connecting the Hudson River/Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie was the dream. Very few leaders were willing to sponsor this “insane” idea. Thomas Jefferson, when hearing about the plan, refused to give any federal aid to the project, saying, “You talk of making a canal 350 miles through the wilderness… it is little short of madness to think of it at this day!” Long before the Erie Canal was bringing in millions of dollars into New York’s coffers, it was called “Clinton’s Folly,” or “Clinton’s Ditch.”

The Erie Canal was completed in 1827, and brought instant wealth to the state. It also proved to be the springboard for Western Expansion, as this area of New York was the only passable way west from the eastern seaboard of the United States. Not long after the completion of the Erie Canal, the railroad system surpassed the Erie Canal as the main method of east to west transport. With the development of the automobile and the interstate highway system after World War II (and accompanying perks such as Liverpool Victoria car insurance!), the canal and railroad system became less used.

The Erie Canal Village, opened in 1978 when Rome, NY, was going through an historical awakening of it’s roots, takes us back to that “boom” time of prosperity in New York. There are numerous museums you can explore– a few settler’s houses decorated as if the families would be back at any moment; a blacksmith shop and horse corral; a schoolhouse and Methodist church; the Harden Museum filled with various horse carriages and sleighs depicting transportation of that era; an ice house, general store, railroad station, and tavern (where you can actually buy food and drink); a museum inside an old cheese factory showing the cheese industry of New York; and more! Best of all– a 30-minute ride on the old Erie Canal packet boat, horse-drawn. What a great day!

We started off by exploring an interesting little museum filled with vintage signs and farming implements. We explored the old barn and marveled at the craftsmanship of some of the tools.

Then, we saw THIS!!!

Wowee! For those of you who don’t know, I have been on a little investigation of the Oneida Indian Stone and how it relates to New York history. This must have been the sign marker that stood at Forest Hill, where the Stone was kept from 1849 to 1974. The Stone has been returned to the Oneida Indian Nation. I hope to see it someday, and take a photo. You can read more about my investigations into this mysterious Stone and its history here and here and here.

The entire village opened up to us from there. We didn’t know where to turn first. We could see a 18th century farmer with long whiskers and straw hat plowing a field with two draft horses; we saw a beautifully arched bridge slung over the Canal with a packet boat (all decked out in Fourth of July colors) below it; we saw a beautiful meadow with whispering yellow grasses and swallows spinning under the yellow sunshine; we saw a crowd of people with cameras and strollers sipping lemonade on the cool porch of the Tavern. What to do?

We decided to see the historic houses. They were from different periods (1801, 1840, and 1890s). It was fascinating to see how our lives and homes have changed in 200 years.

This house, called the Crosby house and modeled after a typical 1840 home, looks a lot like the style of our own home. Ours was built in 1855, and very little has been done to it. It is NO FUN living in a home like this!

This is the Victorian house. It is the Italianate style, judging by its boxy shape and elaborate “icing.”

Over the course of the house styles and contents, you can really see how Americans became more prosperous.

From there, we wended our way to the sunny-looking General Store. You could really buy candy and various little gifts inside. We chatted with the storekeeper, a friendly lady from the area, who explained to us that this store was “today’s WalMart” to the townspeople of yesterday. She showed us the old coffee-grinder. The coffee beans in it smelled w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l.

After seeing the houses, we wandered near the meadow. A farmer was mowing the field with a fascinating mower contraption. Watching the beauty of the draft horses, whose menial labor only heightened the grace in their motions, was mesmerizing. We stopped and were quiet. The smell of the freshly-cut grasses steaming under the warm sunshine was heavenly. Swallows twittered across the grass, undaunted by the strangers watching them as they gobbled up leaping grasshoppers.

The farmer noticed our idyllic state, and paused his mowing to chat with us. As he explained the methods of old-time farming and horse-care, the horses munched noisily on the meadow plants. I could have stayed there forever. It was like something out of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but so much better, because we could feel the hot sunshine and smell the sliced grasses for ourselves.

I felt a twinge of deep regret that our modern lifestyles now shielded us from these experiences. I like my computer and my minivan like any lady, but I long for the slower pace and sweet communion of country-living sometimes.

We wandered to other places, wherever our noses led us. We had to be at the boat by 1 o’clock, so we popped in the smaller displays in a hurry. We saw the old icehouse…

a chicken coop, and the kids saw real chickens for the first time…

the train station…

and an old abandoned train caboose…

When I was here at the Village last, oh…. 26 years ago now (!) the Village had hosted a train ride with a little “train robbery.” I remember the robber trying to take my someone’s watch, lol. I thought it a shame that they don’t have train rides anymore. I loved it.

I’ll have more about our visit on another post. The best part– the packet boat ride– is soon to come!

PETERBORO, N.Y. – 1861 marked the beginning of the American Civil War. The 19th Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend Committee plans to include programs that reflect the 150th anniversary of that conflict.

Among the plans in the works: President Lincoln will share his thoughts and feelings upon his March 4 inauguration, a relative of Edmund Ruffin (the man who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter) will share that history, and the Saturday evening concert will include references to 1861.

The annual event will be held in Peterboro Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12, 2011.

We are definitely making it to this celebration!

I have written about Gerrit Smith, famed philathropist and abolitionist several times. Smith was THE man most responsible for the abolition movement in Upstate New York, inspired by the preachings of Charles Grandison Finney to “love one another” regardless of skin color and financial situation. It was a remarkable movement for it’s time. You can read about our stop by the estate in Peterboro here. You can read more about his passion here, and Smith’s mysterious admittance to the Lunatic Asylum in Utica here.

We also visited the old home of the Higinbotham home in Oneida, NY, close friends of his. Of course, the Civil War was not about slavery exactly (it was about state’s rights, a very relevant issue to this day); slavery was the impetus for the struggle between the states.

According to WKTV, hours for the Saturday, June 11 are 10am to 5pm, and Sunday, and 10am to 4pm for June 11. Admission is $7 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12, and free for children under 6 years of age. Admission to the to the special Civil War concert at 8 p.m. may be paid at the door. Parking is free!

The high point was seeing the Fort Herkimer Church. My children are descendants of the Palatine Germans that settled this area, who built this church, among others. Revolutionary General Nicolas Herkimer’s parents also assisted in the building of the church, and they are buried in the graveyard.

The Fort Herkimer Church is one of the oldest churches in New York State, begun in 1753. Made of stone, it served as an important fortification for area residents during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. There are over thirty gunports in the walls, and thick buttresses project from the building’s four corners.

Because of the rain, the scheduled church tour was cancelled, but a very gracious lady allowed us to look in the church when she heard I research genealogy and local history. Inside the church, it looks like any typical Colonial American church: wooden floors, wooden pews with small swinging doors, and a wooden pulpit raised up several feet. It is a plain church, not as fancy as the Dutch Reformed Church we visited in Albany. It is similar in format if not in scale and style.

After seeing the church, we wandered into the reenactment Civil War camps for a bit. There was not a lot of activity and hardly any other visitors, because of the rain. We puttered around and took this cute shot.

The kids also bought some Civil War hats (Union, of course) and a few toy rifles.

The man who plays Abraham Lincoln, a local celebrity now, was not coming, due to a previous commitment. The events schedule stated that a parade drill and cannon firing was due now, but everyone was huddled in their tents. When the rain finally receded, we asked one of the Confederate soldiers if they were going to fire off any weaponry. A bugler was called to rouse the troops out of their warm tents and onto the soggy training ground.

The captain gave us a nice speech and some background on Civil War cannons, and soldiers were ordered to fired off a shot.

Some Confederate soldiers bravely geared up and did an army drill for us, complete with firing of guns.

It was all very low-key, however, and certainly not the big hullabaloo we read about in the paper. I’d say there were only four or five other families around. When I asked about the scheduled fiddler’s jamboree, we were informed that was canceled, too. This was very disappointing, and ruined the visit for me.

We meandered the site for a while. We stood at the banks of the mighty Mohawk River. How desperately beautiful it is–how I longed to hop in a canoe and paddle away (it’s the Indian in me).

The area saw tremendous damage during the June 2006 floods. The photos below show some of the debris field. The river gushed off course and surged through the area next to the camp- I’d say it surged a good 1/4 mile from its banks here. The gashed land was filled with tree roots, limbs, old roofing shingles, plastic tarps, etc. It was a disaster.

One highlight was talking to a genuine blacksmith. He made a beautiful iron hook as he chatted about iron works, historical ore mining in the Adirondacks, and the history of smithing. The Adirondacks used to supply great quantities of iron for the country. There are large areas filled with titanium there. However, the Adirondacks mines have been closed, due to over-regulation from New York State. Mining is now predominantly in areas of the South, such as North Carolina because the ore is easily accessible. The mining businesses down there also aren’t taxed arms and legs like they are in New York.

We didn’t stay for the scheduled reenactment of the “large-scale” battle. The kids wanted to, but everything on the schedule had so far been canceled, and I really didn’t want to hang around for three more hours in the intermittent rain, waiting for an event that might not even happen. Perhaps we’d visit again, when there might be more sunshine and more activity.