2019 Fort Ticonderoga Independence Day Weekend
Join us at the Fort Ticonderoga Independence Day Weekend from July 4, 2019 for a celebration this Independence weekend to celebrate America’s greatest triumph in 1776. Walk in the marching steps of newly formed Continental soldiers at Fort Ticonderoga in 1776 as historic interpreters demonstrate weapons of independence and explain the daily military duties of soldiers garrisoning the Fort. Explore family programs at the Fort Ticonderoga Independence Day Weekend that highlight the fight for independence and listen to patriotic performances by Fort Ticonderoga’s Fife and Drum Corps.
Come celebrate freedom by exploring one of the greatest triumphs of 1776 as you discover the stories of the men who helped transform America by overcoming tremendous odds to build the American Northern Army in the fight for liberty. Be in the moment as America began to take shape at Fort Ticonderoga!
Admission to this special living history Fort Ticonderoga Independence Day Weekend is included in a general admission ticket.
Meet the soldiers of the Northern Department of the Continental Army and their hive of military preparations at Ticonderoga in 1776 throughout the weekend. See artificers in action in the shoe maker’s and tailor’s shops busily working to resupply soldiers with clothing, shoes, and equipment. Discover how these soldiers prepare their cannons, ammunition, and themselves to meet the British army. See rations cooked, logs hewn, and the Fort’s 1776 restoration in action.
Tentative Daily Schedule
9:30 AM Site Opens to Visitors
10:00 AM Raising the Colors
10:15 AM Key to the Continent Tour: Setting the Scene for 1776 – Trace the footsteps of American soldiers who converged on the historic French Fort at Ticonderoga in 1776 to make their stand against a British invasion. Learn how American soldiers put their ingenuity, endurance, and mettle to the test to defend their new nation. Explore on-going preservation efforts that keep their memory alive.
11:00 AM Musket Demonstration
11:30 AM King’s Garden March – Follow the stirring march of the Fife and Drum Corps down to the King’s Garden. Learn more about the martial music that communicated orders and regulated soldiers fighting in the American Revolution.
11:45 AM Breaking Ground: A Tour of the Historic Gardens
12:30 PM Fife and Drum Concert
1:15 PM Key to the Continent Tour
2:00 PM Cannon Demonstration – Learn how Americans armed the fortifications
2:30 PM King’s Garden March
2:45 PM Breaking Ground: A Tour of the Historic Gardens
3:00 PM Key to the Continent Tour
4:00 PM Mount Defiance: Witness to History Tour – Oh the stories this graceful hill overlooking Fort Ticonderoga could tell! Ascend to summit of Mount Defiance to get the birds-eye view of this epic military landscape and learn how this height shaped the Fort’s history.
4:30 PM Striking the Colors
5:00 PM Site Closes to Visitors
About Independence Day at Fort Ticonderoga in 1776
Sick, weary, and tired, the remnants of the American Northern Army streamed back from Canada to Ticonderoga. General Horatio Gates, their newly-appointed commander, quickly sprung into action reorganizing, resupplying, and restoring the discipline of America’s northern defense. Gates put soldiers from New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to work building earthworks all around the old Fort of Ticonderoga and constructing a navy to defend Lake Champlain.
1776 was a year of rebuilding the Northern Army as part of building a new nation. While the Continental Congress discussed the finer points of declaring independence in Philadelphia, the shattered remnants of the Continental Army which had come so close to capturing Quebec trickled back down to Fort Ticonderoga. Frost bitten, starving, and decimated by smallpox these soldiers began building up bulwarks and America’s first navy to defend their new nation. A new Continental Army emerged reinforced by soldiers from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire and New York, to guard Fort Ticonderoga.
While the declaration itself was signed July 4th, news of the document and the patriotic sentiment it carried would not reach the Northern Army at Fort Ticonderoga until July 28th. The new fortifications of Rattlesnake Hill were christened Mount Defiance to mark the occasion of the first reading of the Declaration to these soldiers.
Mark your calendar today for the Fort Ticonderoga Independence Day Weekend so you don’t miss this exciting French & Indian War event!
Tags: Fort Ticonderoga Independence Day Weekend, Revolutionary War Reenactment