William Ferris Pell
William Ferris Pell (1779 – 1840) was a New York City importer of mahogany and marble and the grandson of the third and last lord of Pelham Manor, an estate of 50,000 acres that included today’s northeastern Bronx and southeastern Westchester counties. During the American Revolution, many members of the Pell family remained loyal to the British Crown and the State of New York confiscated their land. The family fled to Canada but some family members returned to New York after the Revolution. William Ferris Pell traveled back and forth from Canada to New York via Lake Champlain and admired the ruins of the Fort on the heights of Carillon. After the Revolution, Fort Ticonderoga was no longer strategically important and United States Government ceded it to the State of New York which, in turn, gave it to Columbia and Union Colleges.
In 1820, William Ferris Pell purchased the 546 acres that comprised the Fort Ticonderoga Garrison Grounds from the colleges for $6,008. In 1825, Beaumont, Pell’s first summer home at Ticonderoga, was destroyed by fire and The Pavilion was constructed on the site of Beaumont in the following year. It was customary for the cannon at The Pavilion to be fired in honor of Pell’s return to The Pavilion at the beginning of spring. In 1839, Pell’s eldest son, 35 year-old Archibald, was killed when the cannon exploded while he fired it to honor his father’s return to Ticonderoga. Pell was so devastated by his son’s death that he never returned to The Pavilion and, according to family legend, died from a broken heart the following year.
