Never before seen: Fort Ticonderoga displays an original Society of the Cincinnati Gold Eagle Medal
Weeklong celebration includes tours, patriotic concerts, and world-class museum exhibits; FREE second-day admission!
Declare your Independence this year at Fort Ticonderoga with special events and programming during a weeklong celebration of the Independence Day holiday from June 30-July 6. New this year: A second day exploring Fort Ticonderoga is now included with the standard price of admission!
Visitors will experience the American Revolution on the very ground the fight for liberty occurred with museum staff and costumed interpreters recreating and exploring the events of the year 1777. Guests will follow the footsteps of the Continental Army and see first-hand the struggle for freedom.
For the first time ever, Fort Ticonderoga will display an original Society of the Cincinnati Gold Eagle Medal beginning on July 4 (and remain on display until October 31, 2018). An extremely rare and important symbol of the American Revolution, this particular medal, one of only two known to exist, was owned by Captain Douglass Richard from New London, Connecticut. Captain Douglass served for the duration of the war and was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati alongside George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and founder Henry Knox.
“We are so excited to display a rare piece of American history for Independence Day which allows our visitors an even more enriching experience and understanding of the nation’s military heritage,” said Beth Hill, Fort Ticonderoga President and CEO. “Independence Day week at Fort Ticonderoga promises to be an unforgettable experience from the waters of Lake Champlain, the summit of Mount Defiance, and of course inside Fort Ticonderoga, site of America’s first Revolutionary War victory.”
Advance reservations are required for the following two special events which WILL SELL OUT:
Ticonderoga Guns By Night, July 5 Only!
Gates open at 7:30 pm. Tour begins at 8:00 pm at the Log House Welcome Center.
Experience the flash of musketry and roar of cannon fire by night in this unique 90-minute tour and demonstration of 18th-century guns, big and small! Explore the workings of the firelocks and cannons that armed the many garrisons of Fort Ticonderoga and influenced and shaped the importance of this strategic citadel. Learn how these great guns were used to attack and defend Fort Ticonderoga during the French & Indian War and made it such an important prize in the American Revolution. The tour concludes with a dramatic nighttime demonstration of weapons that you will not see anywhere else!
Carillon Boat Cruises 
Get a front row seat for the siege of Ticonderoga during this week-long Independence Day celebration! Between floating bridges, flotillas of bateaux, and a whole British naval fleet, the fight for Ticonderoga played out on Lake Champlain and across the hills that surround it. Don’t miss this unparalleled chance to get a new perspective on the fight for independence on one of the most historic waterways in America.
DAILY ACTIVITIES DURING INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEK INCLUDED WITH ADMISSION:
Key to the Continent Tours
Could Ticonderoga have been held by the Continental Army in 1777? Was its loss a disaster or a prudent retreat? Create your own answers to questions that have enthralled officers and armchair generals alike for 241 years. Explore how two decades of military occupation culminated with rich cultures and characters at Ticonderoga in 1777.
Musket Demonstrations
American soldiers, behind a wall of earth, steeled their nerves to hold their ground as the British Army landed to attack in 1777. See how an army of farmers and tradesmen used their muskets & bayonets to hold back British & German soldiers.
Garden Marches
Follow the Fifes & Drums of Fort Ticonderoga down to the King’s Garden. Enjoy your favorite 18th-century tunes and marches with this corps as your musical guide.
Guided Tours of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum
Exhibitions staff will lead you on a guided tour of this remarkable museum’s highlights. Begun more than a century ago, the Fort Ticonderoga museum has North America’s largest and most important collection of 18th-century military material and cultural objects. Get the scoop on the most significant, rare, and interesting pieces in the collection.
Breaking Ground: A Tour of the Historic Gardens
From military garrison gardens to a secluded colonial revival commemorative spectacle of color and light, explore one of the oldest cultivated landscapes in America. Discover the layers of horticultural history of the Ticonderoga peninsula.
Fife and Drum Concerts
From the earliest patriotic songs which inspired a nation, to the everyday duties and marches that regulated army life, listen to the fifes and drums of the American defenders of Ticonderoga. See the massed fifers and drummers of the many regiments who were charged with holding the British Army at bay.
“A Return of Arms”
As the British Army’s siege tightened around American held Ticonderoga, brand new muskets delivered to the Americans fresh from France were too valuable to leave crated up inside the fort. See these vital arms from a secret ally exchanged for the worn out arms brought by American soldiers to Ticonderoga.
Cannon Demonstrations
Watch a cannon and its crew in their element, holding the British Army back with shot, fired from the earthen walls of a redoubt. Explore how the science of gunnery and field fortification were applied in the defense of Ticonderoga in July, 1777.
Mount Defiance: Witness to History Tours 
Oh the stories this graceful hill overlooking Fort Ticonderoga could tell! As Fort Ticonderoga relives 1777, discover the unique tactical role of Mount Defiance in the story of this decisive campaign fought for our independence.
Call (518) 585-2821 for pricing & advanced reservations or purchase.
Visit www.fortticonderoga.org for event details and tickets.
Fort Ticonderoga: America’s Fort™
Welcoming visitors since 1909, Fort Ticonderoga preserves North America’s largest 18th-century artillery collection, 2,000 acres of historic landscape on Lake Champlain, and Carillon Battlefield, and the largest series of untouched Revolutionary War era earthworks surviving in America. As the premier place to learn more about our nation’s earliest years and America’s military heritage, Fort Ticonderoga engages more than 75,000 visitors each year with an economic impact of more than $12 million annually and offers programs, historic interpretation, boat cruises, tours, demonstrations, and exhibits throughout the year, and is open for daily visitation May through October. Fort Ticonderoga is supported in part through generous donations and with some general operating support made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
America’s Fort is a registered trademark of the Fort Ticonderoga Association.
Photo Credit: Fort Ticonderoga