Arrive Magazine - May/June 2012

Because Fort Ticonderoga embodies a history that runs from the French and Indian War through the Revolutionary War and that includes occupation by French, English and colonial forces, the fort’s deeply knowledgeable sta; has chosen to represent one year—and army—at a time. It’s a rare degree of specificity that exemplifies what makes this museum and historic site, run by the not-for-profit Fort Ticonderoga Association, special.

Built on a visually stunning location along Lake Champlain, the fort and its more than 2,000 acres guard the portage between Lake Champlain and Lake George, once a strategically vital chokepoint. The grounds include two historic gardens and the majestic views a;orded by Mount Defiance.

To visit Fort
Ticonderoga is to
participate in history.
The fort’s interpretive
activities, says executive
director Beth Hill, are
aimed at “giving people
a chance to be immersed
in a moment in time, and
really have an authentic experience.” Authenticity is, indeed,
tangible in the re-creations of daily life and of battles—enter
the artificer’s shop, and you’ll see a tailor making the very
clothes that the soldiers wear; inspect the barracks’ walls
and you’ll spy period gra;ti left by soldiers who are actually
quartering there. The work you see being done around you is
real and informed by ongoing research of the fort’s archives.