View of the Ruins of Ticonderoga Forts on Lake Champlain

The earliest-known published image of the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga is View of the Ruins of Ticonderoga Forts on Lake Champlain, a line engraving by Gideon Fairman after a sketch by Hugh Reinagle published in Analectic Magazine, Philadelphia, vol. II, no. 4 (April 1818), frontispiece, opp. p. 273.  Artist Hugh Reinagle (ca. 1788-1834) probably visited the […]

Dendrochronology: Using Tree Rings to Answer Questions about the Pavilion’s Past

In the summer of 2013 with support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Fort Ticonderoga began an in-depth study of the structural history of the Pavilion.  Oral history tells us that the Pavilion was built in 1826 by William Ferris Pell and occupied by his family until about 1840.  From the early 1840s through […]

Fort Ticonderoga’s Art Collections and Exhibition

Fort Ticonderoga is well known for its 18th-century military collections and vast library and archival collections, but few people realize that it preserves an important art collection as well.  From the very beginning of the museum’s collecting endeavors, obtaining art in the form of portraits of people associated with the site’s history, depictions of events […]

“The accommodations are first class but limited” Fort Ticonderoga’s Little-Known 19th-Century Hotel

Fort Ticonderoga is best known for its military structures and associated history, but what many people do not realize is that the site played a very important role in the history of 19th-century American tourism.  Once steamboat travel became the principle mode of transport on New York’s northern lakes, Fort Ticonderoga became the location where […]