Fort Ticonderoga

Call Directions Website Contact the business

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga is a historic site, museum, center of learning and major cultural destination. Rain or shine, there’s something for everyone!
(2354)

Find inspiration and create family memories as we celebrate America’s 250th! World class exhibits, thrilling weapons demos, epic battle reenactments and hands-on activities connect you to America’s story. Enjoy stunning views from aboard the Carillon boat and our historic gardens.

DON'T MISS THE BOAT! Fort Ticonderoga has two tickets available for the Bon Voyage cruise tomorrow, 10/16.Enjoy the spec...
10/15/2026

DON'T MISS THE BOAT! Fort Ticonderoga has two tickets available for the Bon Voyage cruise tomorrow, 10/16.

Enjoy the spectacular fall foliage aboard the Carillon on its final cruise as it heads south for the winter. Discover the epic landscape as you travel along the ancient warpath and trade route south from Fort Ticonderoga to Chipman Point, The Narrows, through Lock 12 in Whitehall, and the historic sites of the South Bay of Lake Champlain.

https://fortticonderoga.org/ft_events/bon-voyage-cruise-on-lake-champlain-3/

Three months after the Declaration of Independence was read to American troops at Ticonderoga, the soldiers who heard it...
10/15/2026

Three months after the Declaration of Independence was read to American troops at Ticonderoga, the soldiers who heard it were called on to defend the new United States. This October marks 250 years since that army turned back a British invasion from Canada and carried the American Revolution into another year. Fort Ticonderoga will commemorate the stand on the ground where it happened during Hold the Line for Liberty, Saturday and Sunday, October 24–25.

The two-day REAL TIME REVOLUTION® Signature Event commemorates the 250th anniversary of the American stand at Ticonderoga in late October 1776. As the nation marks its 250th, much of the attention turns to the Declaration of Independence. Hold the Line for Liberty tells the essential, little-told story of what it took to keep the Declaration’s promise alive, on the ground where it unfolded, in the same season, 250 years later.

Through demonstrations and immersive interpretation featuring cannon, gunboats, horses and muskets, visitors will explore how the Continental Army prepared to defend Ticonderoga, and the young nation, against a victorious British force advancing along Lake Champlain. Programs will bring the weapons, tactics, fortifications and daily experiences of the soldiers into focus, revealing the work and decisions behind the American stand.

The full event schedule: https://fortticonderoga.org/ft_events/battle-reenactment-hold-the-line-for-liberty/

Read more: https://fortticonderoga.org/news/250-years-later-fort-ticonderoga-commemorates-the-1776-stand-that-kept-the-american-revolution-alive/

After a night of heavy rain, zinnias, impatiens, cosmos, blue bedder salvia, and phlox (with a bee clinging underneath)...
10/15/2026

After a night of heavy rain, zinnias, impatiens, cosmos, blue bedder salvia, and phlox (with a bee clinging underneath) still stand out in the King's Garden.

The Battle of Valcour Island pitted Benedict Arnold's hastily built American fleet against a powerful British squadron o...
10/14/2026

The Battle of Valcour Island pitted Benedict Arnold's hastily built American fleet against a powerful British squadron on Lake Champlain, and what followed was a desperate fight, a daring night escape, and a race back to Ticonderoga, but did it decide the campaign?

Follow the events on Lake Champlain from October 11 to 14, 1776, as Arnold's fleet shelters behind Valcour Island and trades fire with British gunboats under General Guy Carleton, General John Burgoyne, and Captain Thomas Pringle. See the loss of the schooner Royal Savage and the gondola Philadelphia, the escape through the British line by the light of shuttered lanterns, the running escape, the capture of the galley Washington and General David Waterbury, and Arnold burning the Congress at Ferris Bay.

The fleet may have been shattered, Crown Point abandoned, and the British triumphant on Lake Champlain, but the campaign was not yet over.

Now days, rather than months, would determine the fate of North America...

Watch our newest video now! https://youtu.be/L4gEd1wa5YA

On October 13, 1776, as news of the Battle of Valcour Island began to arrive at Fort Ticonderoga, General Horatio Gates ...
10/14/2026

On October 13, 1776, as news of the Battle of Valcour Island began to arrive at Fort Ticonderoga, General Horatio Gates waited impatiently for Dr. Jonathan Potts. Gates had ordered Potts, director of the military hospital 40 miles south at Fort George, to travel to Ticonderoga as soon as his superior officer, Dr. Samuel Stringer, arrived at Fort George. But Stringer was inexplicably delayed, keeping Potts stuck at Fort George and leaving Ticonderoga to prepare for a potentially bloody battle without any Hospital Department officials. (For more information on Stringer’s long journey to acquire medicine for the army, see yesterday’s post.)

By October 14, 1776—250 years ago today—it had become clear that the American fleet had been destroyed at Valcour and the American garrison at Crown Point had been forced to flee to Ticonderoga. A larger battle might now be imminent. Gates could not wait any longer. His secretary, William Clajon, sent a new set of orders to Potts. “Sir,” Clajon wrote, “The Advantage the Enemy have obtained by the very great Superiority of their Fleet, gives Reason to believe we are going immediately to be attacked… therefore, the General orders you or Dr. Stringer to come immediately to this Camp and bring such Articles with you as you may judge most necessary under the present Circumstances.”

With no hospital facilities constructed at Ticonderoga and the British fleet on its way, there was no more time to lose waiting for Stringer. When he arrived at Ticonderoga, Potts would be charged with overseeing a field hospital there and a general hospital across the lake at Mount Independence. His services, and those of the regimental surgeons in camp, would be needed soon when the surviving sailors from the American fleet arrived. After that, no one knew for certain what would happen, but American generals expected the British to press their advantage and attack Ticonderoga. Potts, Gates, and the garrison would need to be ready.

Learn more about this letter (object ID MS.1947) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/29820

It's a beautiful, crisp fall morning in the King's Garden, with cold bees on echinops, galardia, and zinnias, our Flower...
10/13/2026

It's a beautiful, crisp fall morning in the King's Garden, with cold bees on echinops, galardia, and zinnias, our Flower of the Week.

By October 1776, the Hospital Department in northern New York had survived a difficult summer, curbing smallpox in the a...
10/13/2026

By October 1776, the Hospital Department in northern New York had survived a difficult summer, curbing smallpox in the army and treating soldiers for a wide variety of illnesses. More challenges awaited. Medicine and medical supplies were scarce enough that Dr. Jonathan Potts, director of the military hospital at Fort George, had resorted to asking Albany’s residents to provide linen and medicinal herbs. As a British force moved south from Canada, the possibility loomed that the hospital would soon have battle casualties to treat. And the department’s director, Dr. Samuel Stringer, was hundreds of miles away.

Stringer left Fort Ticonderoga on July 28 for a journey to New York City to find and buy medicine. General Horatio Gates approved Stringer’s mission but believed that it would be short. Rather than returning from New York quickly, though, Stringer traveled first to Philadelphia, then back to New York, then to Boston. Gates, irate, accused Stringer of detouring to Philadelphia not to find supplies, but to plead his case before Congress in his battle for precedence with John Morgan, director of the army’s Hospital Department.

Stringer returned to Albany in early October, and his journey seemed to be over at last. In an October 4 letter, Gates ordered Potts to “repair to Ticonderoga… as soon as Doctor Stringer Arrives at Fort George.” Facing the likelihood of a British attack in the near future, Gates wanted Potts to set up a field hospital at Ticonderoga and a general hospital at Mount Independence.

Stringer disappointed Gates once more. On October 13, 1776—250 years ago today—Gates wrote to Potts again, asking for medicine for the garrison at Fort Crown Point. “I am astonished I do not find by your Arrival here that Dr. Stringer is arrived at Fort George”, he added. Stringer may have kept Gates waiting, but his long mission was a success: when he finally returned to Fort George, he brought a treasure trove of medicine from Boston.

Learn more about these letters (object IDs MS.1955 and MS.1954) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/29824 https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/29823

General Horatio Gates had a lot on his plate in October 1776. As commander of Fort Ticonderoga, he had a dizzying array ...
10/11/2026

General Horatio Gates had a lot on his plate in October 1776. As commander of Fort Ticonderoga, he had a dizzying array of responsibilities. He oversaw the construction of defensive works as the fort prepared for a possible attack from the British army in Canada. He worked to maintain military discipline and morale among the garrison and oversaw the staff officers who ensured that soldiers were fed, properly supplied, and treated when sick.

In his general orders for October 11, 1776—250 years ago today—Gates was alert to the big picture. His orders, recorded in the orderly book of Colonel John Trumbull, begin, “The Long Stillness & seeming Supiness of the Enemy strongly indicates that they are meditating some stroke of importance, it therefore, behoves every Officer & Soldier of this Army to be exceeding vigilant & alert, particularly when upon duty.” His instincts were correct. That day, 60 miles to the north, the British fleet on Lake Champlain was attacking Benedict Arnold’s American fleet in the Battle of Valcour Island.

Gates had room in his mind for smaller concerns as well. On the same day, he wrote this note to Richard Varick, aide-de-camp and secretary to Northern Department commander Philip Schuyler. The note reads, “General Gates desires the favor of Mr. Varrick to send him from Saratoga, some pot Herbs of different kinds.”

“Pot herbs” were herbs and vegetables used in cooking, usually in soups and stews. “The Universal Gardener and Botanist”, published in 1778, listed the most common pot herbs as “Celery, Endive, Leeks, Spinach, Beet, Parsley, Chervil, Thyme, Marjoram, Savory, and Spear-Mint”, although a wide variety of other herbs and vegetables were used too. For Gates and any others who shared his pot herbs, they would add nutrition and flavor to their usual rations. As the British destroyed the American fleet at Valcour Island and pushed south towards Ticonderoga, Gates needed all the nutrition he could get.

Learn more about this note (object ID MS.7035) and orderly book (MS.7199) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30267 https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30798

The American army in the Northern Department had known since the summer of 1776 that the fate of their fleet on Lake Cha...
10/09/2026

The American army in the Northern Department had known since the summer of 1776 that the fate of their fleet on Lake Champlain might decide the fate of their campaign. After forcing the American invasion force to retreat from Canada, British general Guy Carleton had settled in at Saint-Jean to prepare for an invasion of his own. Carleton’s army busily built ships with prefabricated parts from Europe, while the American shipyard at Skenesborough, with fewer resources and less manpower, worked desperately to match them.

By October 9, 1776—250 years ago today—the Americans’ work had paid off, but not enough to close the gap to the British. Benedict Arnold, leading the American effort, had built the fleet up to a respectable 16 vessels. The British fleet, though, was over 50 vessels strong, armed with more and heavier guns, and manned by experienced sailors, while Arnold had needed to draft soldiers to man his ships. According to the fleet’s surgeon, Dr. Stephen McCrea, even his medical support was lacking.

In a letter written on October 9 aboard the fleet at Valcour Island, McCrea complained to Hospital Department officials Samuel Stringer and Jonathan Potts about the surgeon’s mates he had been assigned, who were “not fit if better could be had.” One “has no practise and little Theory, trifleing as it is, he’s of two timid a disposition to put any part of his theories in excicution”, and the other “has neither Theory nor practise”. He threatened that “unless this mistake is speedily rectifyed I shall resign” and hoped to gain Stringer and Potts’ support for the appointment of new mates.

McCrea would not have time to resign; events were moving too fast. The British had left their harbor at Saint-Jean on October 4 and were sailing south towards McCrea and the fleet as he wrote. In two days, McCrea’s unpracticed mates would have to practice their trade as the two fleets clashed at the Battle of Valcour Island. Like the crew of the American ships, outnumbered and outmatched, they would have to do their best.

Learn more about this letter (object ID MS.1961) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/29827

Fall clouds opened for the dawn sun to reveal the dahlias, zinnias, and strawflowers still in full bloom in the King's G...
10/08/2026

Fall clouds opened for the dawn sun to reveal the dahlias, zinnias, and strawflowers still in full bloom in the King's Garden.

Address

102 Fort Ti Road
Ticonderoga, NY
12883

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5pm
Sunday 9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+15185852821

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Fort Ticonderoga posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Fort Ticonderoga:

Shortcuts

Share

Category