Fort Ticonderoga continues its Digital Campaign – an exciting virtual experience featuring interactive programming, engaging lectures series, and creative at-home educational activities and resources.
The unique virtual opportunity brings the layers of history and natural beauty into homes across the globe. Fort Ticonderoga staff continue to press forward with their commitment to providing resources and entertaining programs to engage, inspire, and give context to the world around us.
“Through this Digital Campaign, we are eager for our virtual visitors to enjoy behind-the-scenes information and special insider content,” said Beth L Hill, Fort Ticonderoga president & CEO. “We look forward to inspiring visits during special digital events throughout 2021 and beyond!”
Featured on our Upcoming Digital Campaign Event Calendar:
Sunday, February 7
Virtual Fort Fever Series: Documenting, Preserving, and Making Accessible Ticonderoga’s Collections
ZOOM, 2pm
Fort Ticonderoga is currently cataloging, inventorying, and rehousing the museum’s collections thanks, in part, to support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Along the way, we are rediscovering thousands of objects that tell the stories of the people who were here at Ticonderoga. Digital guests during this online presentation will join Miranda Peters, Fort Ticonderoga VP of Collections & Digital Publications, to see objects that have never been on display before or items that have been in museum storage for decades. Explore all of the incredible work being undertaken by museum staff to document, preserve, and make accessible Fort Ticonderoga’s world-class museum collections. This is a paid program and pre-registration is required. Fort Ticonderoga Members receive free admission.
Wednesday, February 10
Collections Speed Dating: A Swiss Drum
Facebook, 1pm
How French was the “French” Army? Explore the background of a French military drum in Fort Ticonderoga’s collections that reveals the diversity of the militaries of the 18th century.
Saturday, February 20
Fusil Grenadier
Facebook, 1pm
Thousands of fusils grenadiers, or grenadier muskets, were stockpiled in French armories throughout the French and Indian War. What made a grenadier musket and were they just used by grenadiers? Find out through an examination of artifacts from Fort Ticonderoga’s collection.
Sunday, February 21
Virtual Author Series: Ghost Fleet Awakened—Lake George’s Sunken Bateaux of 1758
ZOOM, 2pm
In the book Ghost Fleet Awakened—Lake George’s Sunken Bateaux of 1758, author Joseph W. Zarzynski reveals the story of a little-recognized sunken fleet of British warships, bateaux, from the French and Indian War (1755-1763). The story begins more than 250 years ago, when bateaux first plied the waters of Lake George, NY. Zarzynski, a Maritime Archaeologist, will talk about his new book from SUNY Press, enlightening viewers with a history of these utilitarian vessels, including their origins and uses. By infusing the talk with underwater archaeology doctrine, Zarzynski will show the nautical significance of these colonial crafts. This is a paid program and pre-registration is required. Fort Ticonderoga Members receive free admission.
Wednesday, February 24
Virtual Fort Fever Series: Cuba to Champlain: Enslavement and Empire on the Road to Independence
ZOOM, 7pm
The Champlain Valley feels far from the plantation and cane fields most associated with the pernicious institution of slavery, but the region was not immune to the traffic in human lives. Join Fort Ticonderoga Curator, Dr. Matthew Keagle, to explore how 18th-century imperial warfare not only built Ticonderoga but perpetuated and expanded slavery’s reach into the continent, from the Seven Years’ War to the Eve of the Revolution. This is a paid program and pre-registration is required. Fort Ticonderoga Members receive free admission.
Thursday, February 25
From the Ground Up: Tools
Facebook, 1pm
From building fortifications to planting vegetables in the King’s Garden, explore Fort Ticonderoga’s archaeological tool collection in this latest episode of From the Ground Up.
Saturday, February 27
Virtual Living History Event: Four Divisions Formed at Carillon-1757 French Raid on Fort William Henry
During this virtual living history event, a series of programs will demonstrate how French Regulars and Canadians assemble at Fort Carillon (later named Ticonderoga), preparing to march across frozen Lake George to surprise the British in 1757. All programs will be presented on Fort Ticonderoga’s Facebook page at the times listed: 
- Winter Moccasins
Facebook, 11am
Native American moccasins were used by Canadians and French soldiers as footwear for winter travel, like the March 1757 French Raid on Fort William Henry. See the process for recreating these simple deerskin shoes today and how you can make your own.
- 60 Leagues on Snowshoes
Facebook, 1pm
How did 1,500 soldiers, Canadian Milice, and native warriors march from Canada to Fort William Henry in the winter of 1757? Explore the time tested techniques of moving and camping along the great warpaths of the north country in deep snow and along frozen lakes. - Scaling Ladders
Facebook, 3pm
If you can’t batter a fort wall down…climb over it! Join us live on Facebook as we build a scaling ladder rung by rung. See how three-piece scaling ladders were built at Carillon in the hopes of climbing over the log walls of Fort William Henry using the winter season for surprise.
As we continue adding to our Digital Campaign, be sure to visit fortticonderoga.org and our social media accounts for more exciting live videos, on-site special events, lectures series, and educational at-home activities that bring history to life!
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, 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.