Yes! There's More About Fort TIconderoga...13 Things

1. Built in the narrows of Lake Champlain Fort Ticonderoga could view trade routes from the Hudson River Valley controlled by the English and the Saint Lawrence River Valley controlled by the French. My post yesterday provides more details regarding the strategic location of the fort.

2. Through its long history the fort has seen four important battles. The French constructed the fort also known as Fort Carillon in 1755 The fort’s main objective was to control Lake Champlain and keep the British from advancing into the area.

3. I always like to show students a picture of the fort and ask them….if the objective was to hold the lake why was the fort built on a bluff high above…….answer is it was important to maintain the integrity of the fort. It was harder for enemies to attack because they had to climb the walls

4. This fact didn’t keep the British from attacking during the final French and Indian War aka the Seven Years War on July 8, 1758….parts of the fort were still under construction….unfortunately the British were repulsed. This was the greatest victory for the French during the Seven Years War; however, in 1759 the Battle of Ticonderoga was fought with a British victory.

5. Surprisngly the British allowed the fort to fall into disrepair, and maintained it with a small garrison. Students are always amazed that the garrison was less than a hundred….less than 50…less than 30….more like 20. When Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys the Americans entered through a breach in the wall and it was taken without a single shot being fire. The picture below shows the side the structure where Allen entered and demanded the Fort’s surrender.

6. Cannons and gunpowder were seized and were then hauled by Henry Knox in 1775-76 to assist with the siege of Boston

7. In my post Saving History I recount how today the fort is privately owned and is considering selling off some of the artifacts in order to cure huge financial missteps and dwindling numbers of tourists. While this saddens me we probably wouldn’t have Fort Ticonderoga to visit at all if it wasn’t for the fact that the property has been privately maintained since William Ferris Pell (pictured below) purchased the property in 1820. Ironically he was the member of an exiled Loyalist family during the American Revolution.

8. Pell was a businessman, horticulturalist, and preservationist. At the time he became the owner of the property many of the locals had been pilfering the huge stones and other building materials for use on their own properties. Pell was able to secure the fort though he conducted no reconstruction.

9. Pell built a magnificent home on the grounds called The Pavilion which he later turned into a hotel. Today, along with the Fort, The Pavilion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

10. Pell’s great-grandson, Stephen Pell, seen below, took over the restoration of the Fort in 1908. While the Fort becomes a tourist destination, The Pavilion becomes a private family residence. Stephen Pell is credited with building the museum that the Fort is today due to the fact that he was an avid collector of Revolutionary War relics.

11. Stephen Pell was a decorated war veteran, having served in both the Spanish-American War and the First World War. You can find out more about him here

12. The official website for Fort Ticonderoga can be found here.

13. Members of the Pell family are still involved with the Fort and sit on the Fort Ticonderoga Association and Board of Trustees. A family cousin, Deborah Pell Dunning is working on a book which will detail the Pell family’s involvement with the Fort, but does not have a publisher as of this date.

There is a great online article here concerning the history and restoration of the Fort.

Other bloggers have published lists of 13 things as well today….you can find them here.

Wordless: A Stategic Location

Today’s images are the famed Fort Ticonderoga I mentioned yesterday in my post regarding selling history. The Mohawk Indians named the area Ticonderoga long before the French decided to build a fort at the location. The very word Ticonderoga means “land between the waters” meaning the peninsula where the fort was built (between 1755 and 1759) is between Lake Champlain and the drainage of Lake George (La Chute River). In fact, the fort could reach the Vermont shore with cannon fire, and anyone who had control of the Fort had control of a very important north-south water route.

The image below is another view of the Fort…You can see Fort Ticonderoga and Rattlesnake Hill (Mount Independence) from Sugarloaf Hill (Mount Defiance). Fort Ticonderoga sits on the end of the peninsula to the left. Rattlesnake Hill is the peninsula to the right. You can clearly see how the fort is strategically located where the lake narrows.

More on Fort Ticonderoga tomorrow!

Other bloggers are also posting wordless images today. You can locate them here.

Selling History

I had lunch on Sunday with some friends of ours and the subject of my writing came up. I mentioned that perhaps it was the heat of July and August or perhaps it was because I had been busy with numerous projects over the summer, but I just haven’t been very enthusiastic regarding my writing topics until……until I saw this article regarding Fort Ticonderoga.

I mentioned to my lunch companions that apparently the fort is a bit cash strapped because they are looking into selling some of the property’s artwork and artifacts. Instantly one of my companions remarked, “Wait, how can they do that? The government owns the fort, don’t they?”

Read the article and you will discover as I did that Fort Ticonderoga is privately owned and is only on the National Historical Register. It is not part of the National Parks Service as many historical locations are. Therefore, they can sell what they wish, and it appears they are wishing hard. One item in particular is a painting by Thomas Cole titled Gelyna: View Outside of Ticonderoga (1829). See it to your left. You can click on it to see a larger view. It’s rather interesting, don’t you think?

Apparently the money mess began when the fort’s main benefactors, Deborah and Forest E. Mars, Jr. (of candy bar fame), pulled out cold turkey because they had a problem with some of the museum folk. If you read the article I linked to above as well as this Topix thread the whole thing sounds like a financial soap opera.

Sheesh people…this is history….this is Fort Ticonderoga. Quit trifling with it over power issues.