The museum featured a constant showing of "The Last of the Mohicans" starring Randolph Scott which was made in 1936. They also had many tableaux showing mannequins dressed in period costumes depicting some facet of military life in the fort. One of the more gruesome was one showing a Doctor performing surgery under field conditions. Along the front of the glass were various instruments used by the Doctors during that period.
In addition to all this there are tours of the Fort given by docents (lecturers in costume). Our tour guide was, Jason. Jason demonstrated the proper method of loading and firing a Musket. One of the things he explained to us, was the origination of the term "lock, stock and barrel". Apparently in the early days muskets were made individually and none of the parts were interchangeable. It was just during this period of time that they started mass producing guns that could interchange any of the various parts. Also he demonstrated how they would half-cock a gun, and then if they were careless when they went to load it, would hit the butt on the ground causing it to go off "half-cocked". In addition to the musket firing he also demonstrated (with the assistance of several others, the proper procedure for firing a cannon. Needless to say they only used paper wads for firing and a very small amount of gunpowder. Even so, it created quite a BANG! One of my favorite demonstrations was done by a young man in a Grenadier's uniform. The Grenadiers were considered the most elite of His Majesty's soldiers. They were normally, at least, 6 feet tall, and had to be a certain weight. As a result of their "status" they were given the best uniforms, rations, weapons and quarters. The demonstration that we saw involved the Grenadier throwing a grenade. They explained that the timing had to be just right or the Grenadier was injured instead of the intended target. At various times during the day they also had pipers and drummers entertaining around the Fort. In addition to all of this they had docents who demonstrated the art of musket ball molding. Normally these are made one at a time, but they had found a French musket ball molder that made 6 at a time. However, he explained that this particular mold was very difficult to work with and made it very hard to get the balls out of the mold.
History is presented in an exciting method that brings it out of the category of the dull and boring to the feeling of really experiencing what must have taken place so many generations ago. It is a painless way to introduce young people as well as adults to the history of our glorious country. We must remember, that even though this particular battle involved mainly British and French the outcome certainly had an impact on our own formation as a nation.

I am constantly reminded as we travel of the people who are guardians of our past. If it weren't for people like Mr. Gerry Bradfield and the other dedicated people like him, our history would fade into just words on pages and we would lose not only the past but the lessons learned through that past.

If you get in the area of Lake George be sure and stop by Fort William Henry and take a trip into the past. If you would like to find out any more about Ft. Henry check out their website at: http://www.fortwilliamhenry.com

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