Highlighted special tours, exciting demonstrations, & outdoor activities
Fort Ticonderoga will celebrate Independence Day with special events and programming during an exciting holiday weekend, July 4-5, 2020. Experience the American Revolution on the very ground on which 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.
This year, until otherwise announced, general admission capacity will be capped at 400 visitors per day and advance on-line ticketing is required. During the initial open phase beginning June 30th, exterior spaces and Mount Defiance will be open to visitors Tuesday-Sunday from 9:30 am until 5:00 pm (last ticket sold at 4:30 pm).
Fort Ticonderoga’s 2020 opening was delayed due to Covid-19 and New York on Pause. Numerous measures are in place to ensure staff and visitor safety and reflect guidance from appropriate government agencies and health authorities, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Physical distancing, new signage to manage visitor flow and expectations, and required face coverings when physical distancing is not possible.
“We are so excited to welcome visitors for this special Independence Day weekend, which provides an enriching experience and understanding of the nation’s military heritage,” said Beth Hill, Fort Ticonderoga president and CEO. “The Independence Day celebration at Fort Ticonderoga promises to be an unforgettable experience from the heights of Mount Defiance to inside the site of America’s first Revolutionary War victory.”
In a time with so much uncertainty, the 1777 defense of Ticonderoga stands as a reminder that hope lives on in the face of adversity. One year to the day after the Declaration of Independence, Continental Army soldiers were fighting for their lives against a British Army and fleet nearly three times their size. With the odds stacked against them, American soldiers held their ground to the last possible moment, before escaping and living to fight another day.
DAILY ACTIVITIES DURING INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND INCLUDED WITH ADMISSION:
Carillon Battlefield Hiking Trail
In 1776, American soldiers renamed the 1758 Carillon Battlefield, ‘Liberty Hill,’ as they dug fortifications to defend this strategic high ground. Visitors can hike the Carillon Battlefield trail and the American earthworks that still stand today, bearing the openings where American cannons fired against the British in 1777.
Key to the Continent Guided 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 243 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 and German soldiers.
Breaking Ground: A Guided 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.
Bateau Maintenance Demonstrations
See how wooden boats were sealed each campaign season and discover how bateaux carried the Continental and British Army on Lake Champlain. Hear the harrowing story of the Continental Army’s wounded soldiers, women, and children, who fled Ticonderoga by bateau, chased by British gunboats.
Cannon Demonstrations
Watch a cannon and its crew in their element, holding the British Army back with shots, 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 Guided Tours
Oh, the stories this graceful mountain 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.
About Fort Ticonderoga
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 a multi-day destination and the premier place to learn more about our nation’s earliest years and America’s military heritage, Fort Ticonderoga engages more than 70,000 visitors each year with an economic impact of more than $12 million annually and offers programs, historic interpretation, 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.