8/5 - Saratoga to Ticonderoga, NY

The  55-mile drive from Saratoga to Ticonderoga today was really beautiful.  It is just like home, apart from the busy Asheville-Hendersonville corridor.  When we got set up in our new campground we were delighted to find we have excellent wifi (for the first time in a week) and our phone even works.  There’s no AT&T service here at all but Verizon does have sporadic coverage.  The owner said it would depend on where we were in the campground but we got lucky and actually have phone service in the RV.  

Lake Champlain looks a lot like a big version of Lake James (near home for those who aren't from Asheville).  Unlike the man-made lakes in NC, the ones up here were caused by glaciers.

We had enough time this afternoon to see Crown Point.  It’s at the narrowest part of Lake Champlain, only ¼ mile wide, where the first bridge across the lake between NY and Vermont was built in 1929.  The original bridge was an engineering marvel and was on the National Register of Historic Places until it had to be torn down in 2009 because of safety issues.  Two years later the new bridge was opened.  It’s an exceptionally beautiful structure.  Before the first bridge was built there was a ferry crossing here so I’m guessing they brought the ferry back while the new bridge was being built.  The lake is 125 miles long so people who lived on one side and worked on the other would be in a terrible bind if there was no way to get across.  

Crown Point is the location of the ruins of two 18^th century forts, Fort St. Frederic (French 1734-1759) and Fort Crown Point (British 1759-1775).  This was a strategic point for control of traffic along the Lake Champlain corridor.  General Burgoyne’s forces came down Champlain in 1777 with the objective being to take Albany and crush the rebellion.  Thanks to the efforts of those rebels at Saratoga Burgoyne had to surrender his entire army and go home in disgrace.  

All that remains of Fort St. Frederic is part of the stone walls.  There’s a lot of granite across upper NY, VT and NH (the Granite State) so there was no shortage of building material.  Fort St. Frederic was built right next to the water.

Outline of the British fort which was built directly to the west of the French fort.  It was also much bigger with substantial stone barracks.  The granite walls of the fort were 25 feet thick at the bottom and 20 feet high.

The stone soldiers’ barracks.  The officers’ barracks looked the same but housed only 2 or 3 men per room.  The soldiers lived 12 to 18 in a room with 2 or 3 men to a bunk.  Those bunks probably weren’t even as big as a twin bed today.  Ugh.  Those were certainly not the “good old days.”  

A room in the soldiers’ barracks.  This is a two story barracks with the wooden 2^nd story floor gone.  I can’t even begin to imagine 12 to 18 men living in something this size.  The picture makes it look bigger than it is.

Looking across Fort St. Frederic from the bridge.  This is such a beautiful place I can’t help wondering what the soldiers thought of being stationed here.  It was so far from their homes and any kind of civilization.  Scenic beauty was probably not high on their list of priorities.

Just to the north of the bridge.  The light in the clouds was spectacular.

Tomorrow we’ll go to Fort Ticonderoga.