A Sword with Three Centuries of History
Fort Ticonderoga preserves an extensive collection of swords spanning more than two centuries encompassing an encyclopedic array of styles and types. While the memory of who used most swords faded away long before they became part of the museum’s collection, a few notable examples have important provenances. One such sword is that owned by […]
New Blog Series
The Exhibitionist will be an occasional series of blog posts from the office of the Director of Exhibitions. Historical artifacts are loaded with layers of meaning and stories about makers, artists, users, and collectors across generations. Physical exhibits can only tell a part of these stories, here we will try to go further. This series […]
Benjamin Warner’s Knapsack
In 1928 Fort Ticonderoga was given the honor of ensuring the preservation of an object that was once commonplace in the American Revolutionary War army, but that today may be a one-of-a-kind object. It is a soldier’s knapsack. This worn artifact may be the only extant example of a knapsack issued to Continental troops in the […]
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 […]
Of Love, Duty, and Affection
Our team spends a lot of time talking about the power of Fort Ticonderoga’s stories. Fort Ticonderoga’s history is epic and pivotal in the French & Indian War and American Revolution. It was the key to the continent. It is also the site of landmark preservation and heritage tourism in the 19th century and monumental restoration […]
Daniel Dwight’s Powder Horn
One of the most interesting genres of American art that survives from 18th century America is the engraved powder horn. Horns fashioned for carrying gunpowder were supplied to military troops in both the French & Indian War and American Revolution. Soldiers often engraved or carved designs on their horns, perhaps as a way of memorializing […]
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 […]
New Clues to Fort Ticonderoga’s Past from Old Photos
From time to time people donate old pictures of Fort Ticonderogato the museum. This often happens when people are sorting through the possessions of passed love ones seeking to disperse a lifetime of accumulated effects. More often that not, the photographs are undated and loosely organized. Occasionally, however, there is information associated with the images […]
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 […]