Happy Birthday, Fort Stanwix!

Oh, how we love Fort Stanwix!

Fort Stanwix, in Rome, NY, was built during the French and Indian War, to provide protection for “The Carry.” The Carry was a trail on dry ground between the popular waterways, Wood Creek and the Mohawk River. It was so named because settlers and traders had to hop out of their boats when they reached the end of one waterway and carry their boat and goods to the next waterway. The fort was built by the British, back when we were a British colony. It was named after British General John Stanwix. Americans renamed it Fort Schuyler, after the popular General Phillip Schuyler (who was Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law, by the way). General Schuyler already had a number of forts named after him (including one in Utica), so the name was dropped and everyone called the place Fort Stanwix.

Legend has it that the first real flag of the United States of America was flown here.

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Fort Stanwix was one of the targets of the British “three pronged attack” during the Revolutionary War. The British planned to invade and conquer Albany, NY, our state capital. In doing so, the British would slit the 13 Colonies in half: the plan was a brilliantly devised one of divide and conquer.

Through the hand of Divine Providence, the British plans went awry. The British army led by General St. Leger coming from the west were stifled at Fort Stanwix. The British army led by General Burgoyne was sabatoged and captured in Saratoga, NY. And the British army led by General Howe that was supposed to come up from Philadelphia from the south never even got started. New York proved much more resistant than the British thought– after this event, the French joined the Americans and the British scampered down to the Southern Colonies to try to conquer there. You can read more about the three-pronged attack in what is considered the “bloodiest battle of the American Revolution” here.

After the war, the fort was abandoned. It fell into disrepair, and the city of Rome was built over it. A revival of interest in our historic heritage spurned the interest of people in the city. The Fort was declared a national historic park in 1935. The site was excavated and rebuilt in 1976, America’s Bicentennial Year.

This weekend, Fort Stanwix is celebrating her 75th birthday, with parades, reenactments, music, and more. This is one of the BEST national parks we have ever visited. We try to go every year or so. Unfortunately, I will miss my visit this year; we are renovating our home and are on a tight deadline. If you want to visit, see the official Fort Stanwix website, or call 315-338-7730.

Happy birthday, Fort Stanwix! You are an example of the tenacity and faith of our golden founding era.

Photo Hunters: Artificial

UGH! How’d you do with this one this week? Tough one!!! Here’s mine:

Perhaps the first thing that will come to people’s minds (besides artificial sweeteners) are mannequins. And I DO happen to have a photo of some! These are “artificial” people– Iroquois Indians and a Scotsman (many early colonists in Upstate New York were Scot and German). I think these artificial dudes are rather well-done.

Here are more artificial characters– cardboard cutouts of John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Dale Evans Rogers. We saw these when we visited the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.

These are Herkimer Diamonds.

They are artificial diamonds— not real diamonds, but rather quartz– but are still very rare because they have six sides (18 facets) and two terminations, and are found in “vugs” (clusters) only in certain locations in the world. These are called Herkimer Diamonds because there is a large area of them in the town of Herkimer, NY. People come from all over the world to mine this strange quartz. You can read more about these strange and rare “diamonds” in a post I wrote here.

And finally… hmm… two kitties.. which one is artificial?? Hmm.

How did your Photo Hunters go today?

More Photos of Fort Stanwix 2009

We made our annual visit to Fort Stanwix on Independence Day (July 4th). See Part 1 here. We’d been wanting to visit on the holiday for many years– finally we got to! And it was GREAT. There was a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, a stirring speech to patriotism and our true roots, and a few huzzahs for our Constitution and the Continental Congress. Here are more photos of the great time we had.

At the fort, you are free to roam the grounds. There are rooms where you can enter and see exact replicas of colonial life as it was back then. And you can mingle with the soldiers and officers and strike up a chat about the importance of, say, the First Amendment. There were also several marching and musket drills to enjoy watching. Read more

More Fort Stanwix Photos

Yes, more photos of our July 4th trip to Fort Stanwix in Rome, NY. This is such a great place. I’ve written several posts about our visits to Fort Stanwix. It is, in my opinion, probably the best New York State park! And it’s part of the National Park Service, too. You can check out more information by going to www.nps.gov to learn more about Fort Stanwix and other national parks. I also want to mention a new and growing site– it is Vacation Rental Deals, which is a branch of VacationRentals.com. It’s a relatively new site, but they have a growing database of information on family vacations and featured deals. They also are on Twitter, and they also have a blog started up, discussing family vacation ideas and information on deals.

Now for the photos! I recommend that you enlarge the first photo for the full effect. The fort is surrounded by a high earthen berm, for added protection against invading enemies. So the view is really great!

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