Fortified by History

For two days each June, residents of Ticonderoga, N.Y. (pop. 5,167), welcome 1,100 living-history buffs to their namesake attraction, Fort Ticonderoga—one of the most fought-over forts in American history.

Known as The Grand Encampment, the French and Indian War re-enactment draws 66 re-enactment groups that set up camp on 10 acres around the fort and bring to life "The War That Made America."

From 1754 to 1763, England and France—the two world superpowers of the day—along with Colonial and Indian supporters fought for dominion over the vast North American wilderness that each claimed as its own.

Jon Soule, a tailor from Quechee, Vt. (pop. 600), is proud to bring that history to life, portraying the French commander of The Royal Roussillon Regiment. He says Fort Ticonderoga elicits strong emotions from re-enactors, who pay tribute to those who fought and fell there.

"This place is hallowed ground to us," Soule says of the fort, which was named a National Historic Landmark in 1961. He and others portray participants from the battle of July 8, 1758, when French troops defeated British forces as they made their first assault on the fort, suffering one of the greatest defeats in the British Empire's history.

"You can see the history, smell the history, feel the history," says Fort Ticonderoga Director Nicholas Westbrook, standing on the fort's ramparts overlooking Lake Champlain.

Dan Schrothe, who portrays a Colonial captain in the Jaeger Battalion of Roger's Rangers, agrees. "It's when I can step back in time to an entirely different life," says the Liverpool, N.Y. (pop. 2,505), schoolteacher. "We can only scratch the surface of reality."

In 1755, the French extended their domain from Canada, building the fort—then named Fort Carillon—to control the waterways in the Champlain Valley. The fort became Fort Ticonderoga in 1759, when the English captured it on their second attempt.

At the end of the war, veterans settled on land grants given to them by the British crown, gravitating to the area around a sawmill that the French had built during construction of the fort. The veterans formed the nucleus from which the town of Ticonderoga—incorporated in 1804—would grow, creating the first industry in the valley. The La Chute River provided the power for a gristmill, blacksmith shop and mills to process locally raised Merino sheep wool. Ice exporting, lumbering and a booming boat building industry grew there throughout the 19th century, followed by paper mills, which are the largest employers in Ticonderoga today.

Abandoned and falling into disrepair, the fort was purchased in 1820 by William Ferris Pell, a New York merchant and entrepreneur hoping to capitalize on the steady flow of tourists who began visiting the fort in the late 1700s. Three generations of Pells set about restoring the three-and?a-half-acre fort and amassing one of the largest collections of 18th-century artifacts in the nation. Fort Ticonderoga officially opened to the public in 1908. The Pells divested their interests in the fort in 1931, when it was taken over by its current owners, the Fort Ticonderoga Association, a not-for-profit educational institution.

Today, the town basks in the economic glow that the fort's annual 90,000 visitors generate. In addition to learning about the fort's role in the French and Indian War, tourists come to learn about its significance during the American Revolution. In 1775, while the fort was under British control, Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys raided it and captured its cannons, which were then rolled to Boston to attack the British there. Then in 1777, the British captured the fort and held it until the end of the war.

"As we grow, the fort is going to grow, and as the fort grows, we will grow," says Town Supervisor Bob Dedrick of the symbiotic relationship between the town and fort.

In fact, more than 50 monuments and plaques around the town celebrate the historically significant points and heroes who marched, fought, settled and built in Ticonderoga.

Visit www.fort-ticonderoga.org or call (518) 585-2821 to learn more.

Warren D. Jorgensen is a freelance writer in Tarrytown, N.Y.

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