Fort Ticonderoga

This is the view to the south from the top of Fort Ticonderoga. We took this picture during the Grand Encampment in 2007.

What a beautiful view and it is amazing how many times this treasured star shaped fortress changed hands.

The re enactors really get into period dress and have great raging battles with a representation of the history of the early days of America. French, English, Scottish, and many others were soldiers for one side or another in this power struggle for control of the imagined vast resources of the western continent.

American Indian natives were used as scouts and soldiers, many were killed and diseased and died from Europe's endemic plagues.

Smell the black powder and hear the crack boom of the cannons.

Hear the orders shouted in all languages by military men of various backgrounds and training.

Marching men, drills, the encampment where they refreshed, were fed and slept in fits to return to the fight all around them in the Adirondack wilderness.

The cannon blasts echo in the mountain haven where Lake Champlain connects with the waters that drain towards Saranac Lake and ultimately the Hudson.

This year 2009 is the 400Th anniversary of Samuel De Champlain's discovery of Lake Champlain. The native Americans knew of it's existence so much earlier. Also were vikings here earlier? and other ocean travellers?

We are grateful for the opportunity of living by such a beautiful treasure as Lake Champlain. Fort Ti is a well renovated historical treasure worth seeing as well.

By the Crown Point bridge to New York, there is a monument on the New York side that houses an original Rodin statue of Samuel De Champlain which was a gift from France.

Spring brought 1 inch of fluffy snow this morning after raining all day yesterday.

We slept in.

Have a great day in your fort.

Mary