South to Fort Ticonderoga

Monday, August 28 -- Westport to anchorage just south of Fort Ticonderoga -- 26 miles

We woke to fog and didn't get underway until noon after it had burned off. The early afternoon was sunny and warm, then it got overcast and we had light intermittent rain into the evening. Our destination was a bay just south of Fort Ticonderoga to anchor for the night, with a stop at Crown Point along the way, so it was a big history day. 

Here is the Champlain monument at Crown Point, built in 1909 to commemorate the tricentennial of Samuel de Champlain discovering the lake that he named for himself.

On the other side of the road from the monument are the ruins of Fort St. Frederick, which was built by the French in 1731 out of wood and upgraded to stone in 1735. They blew it up in 1759 rather than let the British take it. The chimneys and the earthen wall in the distance to the right are remnants of Fort Crown Point, which the British built right after the French left.

Fort Crown Point was one of the biggest forts that the British built in North America, but it had no strategic significance after France ceded Canada to the British in 1763. The fort accidentally burnt down in 1773. What remains are the stone ruins of the soldiers' quarters and the fort's earthen walls.

Crown Point was a good place for a fort because Lake Champlain is only 400 yards wide here. The French figured (correctly) that a fort here would control access to Lake Champlain from the south. They then built a fort at Ticonderoga about fifteen miles south in 1755 to help protect Fort St. Frederick. They chose that spot because it guards the portage from Lake George to Lake Champlain. They also blew up their fort at Ticonderoga in 1759 and the British rebuilt it from the ruins on the same spot. By the time of the Revolutionary War both Forts Crown Point and Ticonderoga were undermanned and in poor repair, and the colonists were able to capture them both in surprise raids by the Green Mountain Boys in May, 1775. Cannons from the two forts were then hauled overland to Boston during the winter of 1775-76 by General Knox and when used by General Washington to fortify Dorchester Heights led the British to evacuate Boston in March, 1776. (Is anyone remembering any of this from American History class?)

Unfortunately, one can't see Fort Ticonderoga from the water. We didn't go visit because we've been before (though very long ago) and what you see is a reconstruction. The original fort was abandoned and the locals stripped it of anything useful. Here is the peninsula that the fort is on as seen from our anchorage to the south. The fort is hidden behind the trees. The second picture is looking up Lake Champlain from our anchorage, with the tip of the Ticonderoga peninsula at the far left.