Upstate NY

[There's always a silver lining . . . .  One of the nice things about losing something on the computer (like the first draft of this blog post, for example!) is that it's much more concise the second time around.  So, here's the short(er), rewritten, version of our recent trip to Upstate New York.]

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We have been saving some of our more far-flung "carpe diem" trips for long school holiday weekends.  The recent Columbus Day holiday last month provided just such an occasion.  We loaded the car and hit the road for a long awaited trip to Upstate New York!

Our mission for this trip was two-fold:
1) follow some 17th century Dutch ancestral trails, and
2) visit a few historic military sites that were of strategic importance during the pre-Revolution and Revolutionary War-eras.

We were facing two days of hard driving to get up there and back, but our reward was two days of leisurely wandering and exploring in between!

The traffic was intense Friday as we navigated our way up the Eastern seaboard on I-95 from Northern Virginia through Baltimore, MD, Wilmington, DE, Philadelphia, PA, Trenton, NJ and then west of New York City to head up the Hudson River.

We also had periods of torrential rain, thunder and lightning as we drove through a fast-moving and violent storm front.  In the middle of it all, somewhere in Philly and through the streaming rain on the windshield, we noticed we were whizzing by Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles and our much beloved and former Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly!

Home of the Philadelphia Eagles

Saturday dawned bright, clear and cold.  We had been looking forward to the drive up the Hudson River Valley, and we were surprised to see that the fall colors were already well on their way to a spectacular seasonal display (an unexpected treat!).

Crossing the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, NY

Our first glimpse of fall colors on the Hudson

We meandered our way up the Hudson River valley until we reached KINGSTON, NY, home of the original Dutch ancestor on hubby's side who left Westfalia in 1654-55 and settled with other Dutch colonists in the Kingston-area of New York.  Our kids are the 12th generation descended from this intrepid explorer who was looking to start a new life in the New World.

Today, he is a well-known historic figure in the area because he built a stone house in Kingston, NY in 1658 that, more than a century later in 1777, would serve as the first Senate House of New York!

Seeing his name in print--this (beep) is getting real!

Proud descendants in front of the Historic Senate House

The original one-room house was in the center of the structure

Front side of the Historic Senate House

Standing in the portion that was the ancestor's original house

We also toured the nearby Kingston Historic "Stockade" District.  Fearing for their safety because they were periodically at war with the nearby Esopus Indians, the Dutch colonists relocated and rebuilt their entire city within a walled stockade in the mid-1600s.  This provided them some safety, but they were still required to tend their farms every day, which remained in the fertile river valley bottom outside the city walls.

Historic buildings in the Stockade District

Steeple of Dutch Reformed Church

Our next stop on our journey up the Hudson River was SARATOGA NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK, a site made famous during the Revolutionary War.  

Artillery on the Saratoga Battlefield

The Battle of Saratoga in 1777 is often cited as being the major turning point in the Revolutionary War.  British forces were were determined to split the American forces in two, along the line of the Hudson River, cutting off the portion of the colonies where the seeds of rebellion were sowed (New England).  American forces were entrenched at Saratoga and managed to keep General John Burgoyne from linking up with General Clinton's forces coming up from the south to execute on the plan. Because of this important American victory, the French offered support to the Americans and ultimately joined in the war some months later, providing essential supplies to the Americans and their cause.

We toured the battlefield by car, and the fall colors were spectacular!

Heading farther north, we made one last stop for the day at FORT WILLIAM HENRY at the base of scenic Lake George.  Fort William Henry was one of the many 18th century star-shaped forts that were constructed in New York during the French and Indian Wars.  This fort, originally built in 1755 by the British to launch military operations against the French, was destroyed a mere two years later, in 1757, by the Marquis de Montcalm and his Indian allies.

If you've read James Fenimore Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans" (or perhaps seen the movie with Daniel Day-Lewis . . . hard to forget!), you may remember that Fort William Henry was the British fort that was captured by the French.  As part of the surrender agreement, the French agreed to provide protection to the remaining British soldiers and their families as they were evacuated to another nearby fort, but the Indians allied with the French didn't honor the terms of the settlement and they attacked and massacred the British and captured the women and children.

The French burned the fort to prevent it from being used by the British again, and the fort lay in ruins for about 200 years.  The fort you can visit today was reconstructed in the mid-1950s on the site of the original fort.

Fort William Henry

View of Lake George from Fort William Henry

Interior of Fort William Henry

We awoke the next day in the beautiful town of TICONDEROGA, NY, just a few short hours from the Canadian border.

Waterfall in a city park in the heart of Ticonderoga, NY

FORT TICONDEROGA is a fully-restored, 18th century star-shaped fort strategically located on the portage between Lake George and Lake Champlain.  The French started building the fort (calling it "Fort Carillon") in 1755 to keep the British from accessing Lake Champlain, and it played a key role in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War.  The fort was held by the French for only a few years before it was captured by the British in the Battle of Ticonderoga in 1759.  The fort was not just a great a defensive position; it was also a desirable location for staging attacks to the north and south and was used as such throughout both wars.

Walking toward the main entrance to Fort Ticonderoga

We had missed participating in the national reenactment event at Fort Ticonderoga in mid-September because of work and school commitments.  Members of the 1st Virginia Regiment had joined with other reenactors from all over the country to reenact "Brown's Raid," where Colonel John Brown made a "gallant attempt to recapture the fort" from the British in September of 1777 but was ultimately unsuccessful.

View of Lake Champlain from Fort Ticonderoga

Two budding historians getting the lay of the land

It was quite a trek to get there, but boy were we glad we went!  We spent the better part of the day exploring the fort and surroundings.  Our reenactors enjoyed seeing hands on demonstrations of period crafts and they consulted with experts on period techniques for such things as buttonholes and garment construction, which will definitely come in handy as they continue to make their own apparel and "kit."  

The fort also has a large collection of authentic military arms and artifacts and other period objects on display.

Display of firearms from the Revolutionary War

View of parade ground inside fort; barracks buildings in background.

The artillery at the fort was mainly Naval guns that would have had to be transported across the lakes and rivers and up the mountainside to their final positions at Fort Ticonderoga.

Artillery peeking over ramparts

On the orders of George Washington, a young officer named Henry Knox was tasked with dragging the artillery pieces several hundred miles over snow and ice in the middle of winter to Boston to aid in its defense during the Revolutionary War, a mission that was incredibly arduous but ultimately successful.

Naval artillery defending the fort

Ruins of the fort before restoration began in 1909

We also drove to the top of nearby Mount Defiance, which overlooks Lake Champlain and Fort Ticonderoga.  You can also see across the lake to Vermont and the Green Mountains.  Whoever owned Mount Defiance controlled the fort, and they brought artillery pieces up the hill to defend and protect it.

Looking up at Mount Defiance from the Fort

View looking East from Mt. Defiance across Lake Champlain and towards Vermont

Mount Defiance view looking south

Manning the artillery

Artillery positioned to protect the fort in the distance below

Fall colors on Mount Defiance

Late in the day, we ventured a bit farther north to quickly check out the ruins of two more 18th century forts at CROWN POINT.

FORT ST. FREDERIC was built by the French in the 1730s to help them retain control of Lake Champlain. The British destroyed it in 1759 and built their own fort, FORT CROWN POINT, which was used as a staging area to launch attacks on the French up in Canada.  At the end of the Revolutionary War, both forts fell into ruin and disrepair, along with Fort Ticonderoga.

Remains of Fort Crown Point (the British fort, c. 1759)

Fort Crown Point

View of the ruins of Fort Frederick (the French fort) at Crown point

We couldn't resist driving into VERMONT across the bridge at Crown Point, just to say we'd been there!

Bridge over Lake Champlain connecting New York and Vermont

The lovely fall weather held until our last day, which made the 500+ mile drive south we were facing that day much more bearable.  We drove south around Lake George to Whitehall, NY, and then down the Hudson River valley to Albany, NY.

Fall colors en route to Whitehall, NY

We stopped briefly in Albany, NY to check out another family ancestral site:  the home of a distant Dutch uncle who was a successful statesman, Brigideer General in the Albany County militia during the Revolutionary War (and who fought at Saratoga!) and businessman.  Uncle Abraham's 18th century home is still standing and is preserved as an historic site to this day.

Ten Broeck mansion in Albany, NY (c. 1797)

See any resemblance???

About eleven hours later, we made it home, very road weary but grateful for the adventure!