THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND THE IRISH

If you've been following our blog, you know that on our trip East we visited some US history at Civil War Historic sites in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Here in New York where we're spending the Summer, there is also a lot of early American History which we never visited in the previous 6 years we were here. So, last Sunday we decided to take a ride North about 40 miles to Ticonderoga, NY where Fort Ticonderoga is located. This fort played an important roll in early American history. It was built by the French between 1755 and 1758 on a strip of land that sticks out between Lake Champlain and Lake George. Originally named Fort Carillon, it was used to defend French interests in North America before the US came into being. In 1758 during the French and Indian War, 4900 French soldiers defended the fort against a force of 17,000 British, Provincial, and Native troops.Part of that army included the Scottish 42nd Regiment, known as "Black Watch" who suffered the greatest causalities. A ceremony commemorating that regiment's valor is held at the memorial Cairn during the Scottish Festival each year.
By the time of the American Revolution in 1775, the British had taken over the fort and changed the name to "Ticonderoga". It was manned by a small company of the British 26th Regiment. In a daring raid in the pre-dawn hours of May 10, 1775, Colonel Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, and the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, captured Fort Ticonderoga achieving the first American victory of the American Revolution for independence from Britain. In an extraordinary expedition the following winter, Colonel Henry Knox hauled Ticonderoga's cannons to Boston to arm the fledgling American Army. The threat of Ticonderoga's big guns quickly forced the British occupying the city to evacuate shifting the focus of the war out of New England. The Fort has many displays of the period from clothing, living conditions, weaponry, etc. including a Fife and Drum Corps that puts on displays throughout the day. There is also a demonstration of the firing of a Flint Lock Rifle and a Cannon. One thing we didn't know was the actual responsibilities of the Fife and Drum Corps. They didn't just lead the troops into battle but were actually the major means of communication between the troops and officers. The music they played signaled calls to battle, firing of the cannons, and other actions in battle. The head of the Corps was the responsible also for discipline of the troops and enforcing the rules. Thus the saying "Drummed out of the Corps" when someone was given a bad conduct discharge.

Another part of the things to see here is the "King's Garden". I wasn't all the interested but Judy was fascinated by the whole thing so we took that part of the tour also. The garden was designed by Marian Cruger Coffin who made her mark as one of the first and most accomplished female landscape architects in the US. She achieved wide recognition for her designs of country estates. A 1904 graduate of MIT, she was one of only two female students then studying landscape architecture. She opened an office in NYC and began a successful career that flourished in the era following WWI, when a generation of newly rich American industrialists were anxious to showcase their wealth. The first garden at the Fort was planted by the French to feed their troops stationed there. After the Fort property was purchased by the NYC businessman and horticulturalist William Ferris Pell in the early 1800's, he planted a renowned pleasure garden on the same space in the 1820's to compliment his summer home-turned hotel, The Pavilion. By the turn of the century, The Pavilion grounds, and the Fort ruins were neglected, prompting Stephen, William's son, and wife Sarah Pell to purchase the property from the family and begin to preserve them. A new Colonial Revival garden designed by Marian Cruger Coffin in 1920 soon followed. While the framework of the garden remained essentially in place, the next generation of the Pell family modified the plantings to suit their tastes. While still a celebrated garden, much of Marian Coffin's influence had given way to a new garden. By 1988, the family no longer used The Pavilion, that had entertained Presidents and other notables in it's hay-day. The garden slumbered while pressing restoration needs at the Fort itself were addressed. In 1997, the Fort Ticonderoga Association began restoring the garden using Coffin's surviving detailed plan. Today the King's Garden is part of the tour reliving the "Glory Days" and the history of the Fort. For anyone interested in early American history, Fort Ticonderoga is well worth the visit if in the area.
I suppose by now your wondering about the "Irish".
Tuesday afternoon we heard there were still tickets available at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center for a performance by the "Celtic Women". Since we'd seen them perform on ASU's PBS station in Arizona and loved it, we decided to see if we could get tickets. Judy got the number and called SPAC. We were told they don't sell tickets over the phone but they could be purchased on line from Ticket Masters or Live Nation. But after trying for awhile to figure out how, without much success, we decided to drive to Saratoga Springs, about 20 minutes away, and buy them. So off we went at 1:30 PM in the afternoon and purchased 3 tickets for that evening's 7:30 PM performance. Shortly after Michelle got home from work about 4:30, she got a call from a friend who someone had given 4 free tickets for the performance and wanted to know if we wanted to go. ISN'T THAT JUST HOW OUR LUCK GOES!!! Oh Well !! We went to the show that evening and were glad we did. It was well worth the price. The performance wasn't quite as elaborate as it had been on TV but was still very enjoyable. Our week will end with a quick trip to Cape Cod to visit Judy's brother David and his family on Friday and back Saturday. So ends our week here. Summer is fast coming to an end and we still have a lot we want to do like a trip to Quebec, and Maine. Hope we can squeeze them in.