Having made dozens of trips between Wisconsin’s Coulee Region and New Hampshire’s Upper Valley over the past half century a couple of signs in Whitehall, New York are worthy of note. The route east from the Coulee Region is Interstate 90, (take any of a variety of options around Chicago) almost to Albany, NY. Exit just before Albany and travel local roads over to Intestate 87 which goes north to Lake Champlain. We would exit before Lake Champlain and go through Whitehall, New York before following Route 4 across Vermont into the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire (the Hanover and Lebanon area).

The two signs that really caught our interest so many years ago were “Welcome to Whitehall, Birthplace of the United States Navy” and a directional sign to “Fort Ticonderoga”. We researched the Navy’s birthplace and routinely said “someday” about Fort Ticonderoga.

Officially, Philadelphia claims to be the birthplace of the United State Navy based on action by the Continental Congress on October 13, 1775. Whitehall, NY claims the distinction based on naval actions on Lake Champlain in May of 1775 and the claim that Benedict Arnold constructed the first American fighting fleet there in 1776. Other cities claiming to be the Navy’s birthplace include Marblehead and Beverly in Massachusetts and Providence in Rhode Island.

Our “someday” concerning Fort Ticonderoga finally came late in May. We thought we knew about Fort Ticonderoga as being the first American victory in the American Revolution; for a few famous names to include Benedict Arnold (before he became a traitor), Ethan Allen, and the Green Mountain Boys; and the origin of the cannons that helped defend Boston in 1776. There is actually over 400 years of North American history there!

In 1609 St. Lawrence Valley Native Warriors and French explorer Samuel de Champlain attack Mohawks at Ticonderoga. Lake Champlain is named after Champlain who founded Quebec City, established New France as a French Colony in North America, and so much more. In 1755 the French built Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga and in 1757 more than 8,000 French, Canadian and Native forces left there to attack British Fort William Henry. In 1758, in North America’s bloodiest battle of the 18th Century British forces suffered almost 2,000 casualties while attacking the French. A year later, in 1759, the French abandoned Fort Carillon as the British advanced. The captured fort is renamed Fort Ticonderoga. This was the period of the French & Indian War (1754-1763) fought in North America between France and Great Britain.

At Fort Ticonderoga in 1774 only 20 British Soldiers struggled to maintain the fortifications. Then, on May 10th, 1775 Ethan Allen and more than 80 Green Mountain Boys (another source indicated about 180) accepted the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga using the element of surprise and apparently not firing a shot! This was the first victory over Great Britain in America’s War for Independence!

Late in 1775 a Boston bookseller named Henry Knox made an offer to General George Washington to go to Fort Ticonderoga and bring back some much needed heavy artillery. This would be a 500 mile round-trip in winter conditions. The statistics are overwhelming: forty-two exceedingly strong sleds, eighty yoke of oxen, 59 artillery pieces primarily cannons, and a total of 60 tons of weapons, ammunition, and other vital supplies. Knox completed the trip on January 24, 1776. General Washington used this artillery to liberate Boston from the British occupation, forcing British forces from New England.

General John Burgoyne’s British offense forced the American evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777, but Burgoyne later surrenders at Saratoga, NY and American forces returned to the fort. In 1781 British forces briefly re-occupied Ticonderoga. But a few years later, in 1781, General George Washington visited the unoccupied fort while waiting for the final peace treaty to be signed.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, an American victory at nearby Plattsburgh, NY prevented another British advance on Fort Ticonderoga. In 1820 the earliest act of preservation of its kind in the United States commenced and in 1909 restoration efforts began and The Fort Ticonderoga Museum opened to the public.

Today, the Welcome pamphlet states “Fort Ticonderoga is a non-profit educational organization and museum whose mission is to preserve, educate, and provoke active discussion about the past and its importance to present and future generations.” Today the Fort Ticonderoga site has 2000 acres which includes the fort, gardens, outside exhibit space for multiple daily demonstrations, lots of inside exhibit space, Mount Defiance (observation hill top), and so much more. There is even a boat tour and a ferry to Vermont. This is a multi-day destination which is only opened Tuesday to Sunday from early May through late October.

And, it was worth the wait as I am glad our “someday” to visit Fort Ticonderoga finally arrived!