Category: Ticonderoga

French vernacular architecture at Carillon will be the topic of the next Fort Fever Series program on Sunday, March 12, 2017, at 2:00 P.M. given by Assistant Director of Interpretation Nicholas Spadone. Admission is $10; free for Members of Fort Ticonderoga and Ambassador Pass Holders.

Fort Ticonderoga’s “Fort Fever Series” continues on Sunday, March 12th, at 2:00 p.m. with “Basse Ville: Vernacular Architecture of the Lower Town at Carillon,” presented by Assistant Director of Interpretation, Nicholas Spadone. The cost is $10 per person and can be purchased at the gate; Fort Ticonderoga Members and Ambassador Pass Holders are admitted free of cost. The program will take place in the Mars Education Center.

This Fort Fever presentation will examine the vernacular architecture of Ticonderoga’s temporary structures and shed light on how the peninsula appeared from 1755-1759. “Today, the impressive stone fort protrudes on the peninsula prominently,” said Nicholas Spadone, Assistant Director of Interpretation. “Much less known are dozens of temporary structures that dotted the landscape during the French occupation at Carillon, later named Ticonderoga. What remains of those structures are simply stone foundations or merely a drawing on a map. However, new research has revealed the structure’s rich story.”

The “Fort Fever Series” is just one of several programs taking place at Fort Ticonderoga this winter and early spring. Clothing and Accoutrements Workshops are offered March 11 & 12 and April 8 & 9. Fort Ticonderoga presents the living history event “Four Divisions formed at Fort Carillon: Rigaud’s Attack of Fort William Henry” on March 25th. The Sixth Annual Garden & Landscape Symposium will be held on April 8th. You can learn more about all of these programs by visiting www.fortticonderoga.org. Some programs require advanced registration.

President Taft speaks at Fort Ticonderoga during his visit on July 6, 1909.

Fort Ticonderoga’s “Fort Fever Series” begins on Sunday, January 8th, at 2 p.m. with “President Taft Comes to Ticonderoga,” presented by Director of Education, Rich Strum. Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased at the door; Fort Ticonderoga Members are admitted free of cost. The program will take place at the Mars Education Center.

“William Howard Taft is the only sitting President of the United States to visit Fort Ticonderoga. Taft’s visit came early in his term, July 6, 1909, as part of the week-long Champlain Tercentenary Celebrations throughout the Champlain Valley,” said Rich Strum Fort Ticonderoga Director of Education. “The early restoration work at Fort Ticonderoga, undertaken by museum founders Stephen and Sarah Pell, was underway, and the President was given a tour of the work by Sarah Pell. Thousands attended the day-long event on the Ticonderoga peninsula. Learn about the advance planning, the scope of the celebration, and the details of Taft’s visit.”Rich Strum is the Director of Education at Fort Ticonderoga, serving as the Project Director for the Fort Ticonderoga Teacher Institute. He is managing Editor of The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum and the North Country Coordinator for New York State History Day.

The “Fort Fever Series” is just one of several programs taking place at Fort Ticonderoga this winter and early spring. Clothing and Accoutrement Workshops are offered March 11 & 12 and April 8 & 9. Fort Ticonderoga presents living history events January 21st (1757 Battle on Snowshoes), February 18th (1775 British Garrison at Ticonderoga), and March 25th (Four Divisions formed at Fort Carillon; Rigaud’s Attack of Fort William Henry). The Sixth Annual Garden & Landscape Symposium will be held on April 8th. You can learn more about these programs by visiting www.fortticonderoga.org. Some programs require advanced registration.

Fort Ticonderoga’s Pavilion is located on the shore of Lake Champlain below the Fort.

A very historic building lies on the grounds of Fort Ticonderoga that many people don’t know anything about. Located below the Fort, on the shore of Lake Champlain, stands the Pavilion. It was built as a summer home in 1826 by William Ferris Pell. He and his family occupied it through the 1830s.

By 1840 the house had begun to be used as a hotel, its primary function through 1900. As a hotel the house welcomed travelers passing through Ticonderoga while traveling by steamboat on Lake George and Lake Champlain. The hotel is known to have accommodated such guests as Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln; the prominent French & Indian War historian, Francis Parkman; and prolific Adirondack photographer, Seneca Ray Stoddard. When William Ferris Pell’s great-grandson, Stephen H.P. and his wife Sarah G.T. Pell began the restoration of Fort Ticonderoga in 1909, they simultaneously undertook the restoration of the Pavilion and used the house as a summer residence for many years. After Stephen Pell’s death in 1950 his son John occupied the house until 1987.

The design phase for Fort Ticonderoga’s Pavilion, is now underway thanks to a grant from the New York Council on the Arts and generous individual donor support. John G. Waite Associates, Architects PLLC, a leading consultant in the field of historic preservation architecture, has been hired to prepare schematic design and design development documents for the historic home located on Fort Ticonderoga property. The documents will allow Fort Ticonderoga to move forward with the stabilization and complete restoration of this nationally significant building as part of their overall site master plan.

Plans for the Pavilion’s reuse include meeting space, hospitality functions, administrative support, dining, and guest services. The Pavilion’s restoration is part of a larger multi-year capital initiative being undertaken by Fort Ticonderoga.

“Fort Ticonderoga is extremely pleased to begin this important project,” said Beth Hill, Fort Ticonderoga President and CEO. “As one of the earliest summer homes and hotels in the region, the Pavilion is considered one of the most important historic structures in the Adirondacks. The Pavilion is a critical link spanning nearly two centuries of Fort Ticonderoga’s history encompassing the stories of landmark preservation, the birth of American tourism, and monumental restoration.”

Although much of the Pavilion’s early fabric remains, the building has been altered over the years and today is in poor condition because of decades of little or no maintenance. Interior features have deteriorated along with elements of the building’s exterior. Without stabilization and rehabilitation work, the building would be in jeopardy of being lost, making this project vital and timely.

A team of architects, architectural historians, and building conservators from John G. Waite Associates carried out a thorough investigation of the Pavilion in 2013-2014, to document and understand the current state of the building and identify the various phases of the building’s evolution. Dendrochronology was conducted on timbers in the structure during that time and identified beams dating from the late 17th century, 18th century, and 19th century. The research provided the foundation for future plans of restoration and reuse.

Image of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum’s newest acquisition, one of the very few surviving contemporary images of French regiments that saw service in North America.(Click image to see full-scale.)

Fort Ticonderoga is thrilled to announce the recent acquisition of an important painting of the French military on campaign from the mid-18th century. The work depicts a French regiment camped in hilly terrain of the Italian Piedmont during the final campaigns of the 1740-1748 War of Austrian Succession. This painting is an internationally significant addition to the museum’s collection and an important document of military and material culture during the Ancient Regime with a direct connection to the French soldiers that built and served at Fort Carillon (later named Ticonderoga) during the French and Indian War (1754-1763).

The campaign depicted in the painting involved French forces advancing into Northern Italy. These French troops suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of numerically inferior Piedmontese troops at the Battle of l’Assietta. The Marquis de Montcalm also served during the campaign depicted in the painting, where he was wounded during the battle, his final field command prior to his service in Canada. The painting represents the camp of the Royal Roussillon Regiment, identifiable by their uniforms which follow the January 19, 1747 regulations. This regiment later served and wore the same uniforms at Fort Carillon from 1756-1758, including the climactic battle on July 8, 1758, making this one of the very few surviving contemporary images of French regiments that saw service in North America.

This painting serves not only as a detailed glimpse into a French military encampment, but represents a campaign that may have served as a lesson for the Marquis de Montcalm of how a small, well-entrenched force could defeat a much larger army. The lopsided victory at l’Assietta in 1747 shares some striking similarities with the later battle at Ticonderoga in 1758, including the presence of Montcalm as well as four of the infantry regiments that had fought in Italy, one depicted in this painting.

“The intricate detail of the painting is a remarkable window into daily life in the French military,” said Fort Ticonderoga’s Curator Matthew Keagle. “It illustrates in full color many of the details of camp life depicted in the engravings of military manuals in the Fort Ticonderoga Museum’s library collection. The level of detail allows the identification of numerous examples of objects from soldiers’ muskets to powder horns to eating utensils that match examples recovered archeologically at Fort Ticonderoga.”

Fort Ticonderoga holds one of North America’s premier collections of 18th-century military material culture. This painting adds immensely to the museum’s holding of French material. Exhibits across the museum’s campus contain thousands of objects and tell thousands of stories, narrating the history of Fort Ticonderoga from the military culture of the 18th century to the reconstruction of the fort in the 20th century. The painting will be on display during the museum’s 2016 season in the Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center