In 1777, Gen. Burgoyne with a large British Force, hauled cannons up Mount Defiance, and forced the Americans to give up the Fort. Col. John Brown's American force almost recaptured the Fort in September just before Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. Sometime after the Revolution, the Fort was abandoned and fell into ruins. In 1820, the Fort and its land were given to Columbia and Union colleges who in turn sold it to William Ferris Pell who built a summer place and preserved the ruins of the Fort. In 1908, Stephen Pell, the great grandson of William Ferris Pell, conceived the idea of restoring the Fort. He began an archaeological reconstruction, and the assembly of museum and library collections. Throughout the nineteenth century, Americans visited the ruins of the Old French Fort seeking history and scenery. In the New World, a landscape apparently without antiquities, tourists craved the romance of ruins. They found it at Fort Ticonderoga. The earliest tourists created their own souvenirs. Artists like Thomas Cole, John Henry Hill and Susan Leverich came with their sketchbooks to capture the mystery of the ruins on paper or canvas. Young ladies recorded their rapture in letters and diaries. Gentlemen wrote home describing in detail the layout of the ruins. Writers for popular magazines like Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote articles sharing the experience with readers unable to make the rough journey to Ticonderoga. As tourism increased after the Civil War, local people capitalized on the growing business opportunities. J. B. Wicker transformed the Pavilion from a summer home into a resort hotel. Seneca Ray Stoddard produced stereopticon views and guidebooks so that everyone could take home memories of their vacations in the Adirondacks. I met with Susan Johnson, the Associate Director of the Fort. She explained that the restoration project at the Fort was on-going and that a recent endowment from a prominent New Yorker, had allowed them to start on the last remaining unfinished wall of the Fort. The design of the Fort was especially interesting, in that the defenses against a land attract included separate structures connected by crosswalks. Inside the Fort, we joined up with Rich Storm, the director of interpretation and education and his trusted scout Red Hawk, Wes Dikeman, a full blooded Abeivaki Indian. All around us came the sounds of marching troops, bands and the firing of cannon and musket, as the actors moved through their drills much as would have been hundreds of years ago. Inside, the two story barracks has been turned into a museum with all the neat items of the time. It is here that the day to day life of the French soldier was depicted in detail. Included is a reproduction of the famed statue of Ethan Allen by Larkin G. Mead ca 1876, created for the Vermont State House in 1861. We stayed for the ceremonial lowering of the colors, which was extended by the virtue of lowering the flags of three different countries, by the same color guard. This trip was fun. we really didn't have to do anything or go anywhere. Just sat around and had the activities come to us. If you'd like to find out more about the Fort (their hours, days open, etc.) check out their website at: http://www.fort-ticonderoga.org.