2012 Season Begins Friday, May 18
Ticonderoga, NY – Fort Ticonderoga opens for the 103rd season on Friday, May 18 and will offer new programs, living history weekends, events, exhibits, gardens, and a six-acre corn maze designed in the shape of the Fort! Visitors will immerse themselves in nearly 2000 acres of exquisite landscape at Fort Ticonderoga and experience the story of how the blood spilled to create an empire in the French and Indian War resulted in the struggle for liberty and America’s independence a generation later.
Recently recognized as the top destination in the Adirondacks by USA News Travel, Fort Ticonderoga connects all visitors to a place and time that defined a continent, a nation, and its continued legacy.
“Fort Ticonderoga is a family destination and a center of learning. A visit is an interactive, multi-disciplined experience,” said Beth Hill, Executive Director. “It’s exploring the beautiful gardens, finding adventure in our events, marching with the Fife and Drum Corps, and learning about a historic trade. It’s a walk through the restored Fort, a stroll overlooking Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains of Vermont, and an afternoon in our exhibit galleries exploring our premier collections.”
2012 Highlights:
Benedict Arnold is a hero at Fort Ticonderoga this year! Visitors to Fort Ticonderoga will be immersed in the year 1775 when Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen secured the Fort and America’s first victory of the Revolution. Daily interpretive programs will engage visitors in the “moment” where they can learn to ply an 18th-century trade and thrill at the pageantry of arms as Minute Men become soldiers of the newly formed American army.
Fort Ticonderoga’s newest exhibit Bullets & Blades: The Weapons of America’s Colonial Wars and Revolution will showcase nearly 100 weapons from Fort Ticonderoga’s internationally significant weapons collection including many never-before-seen recent acquisitions exhibited together to illustrate the remarkable beauty and broad diversity of muskets, pistols, swords, and related weaponry used in America and at Ticonderoga through the American Revolution.
The internationally acclaimed exhibit Art of War: Ticonderoga as Experienced through the Eyes of America’s Great Artists continues a second season and brings together for the first time in one highlighted exhibition fifty of the museum’s most important artworks. Fort Ticonderoga helped give birth to the Hudson River School of American Art with Thomas Cole’s pivotal 1826 work, Gelyna, or a View Near Ticonderoga, the museum’s most important 19th-century masterpiece to be featured in the exhibit.
Several new seminars, workshops, and popular author series will be presented this season. New this year, Fort Ticonderoga will highlight Lake Champlain and Lake George in a “Lakes” Conference held August 11-12. Foodies visiting the Adirondacks during peak foliage season will delight in the Chocolate Covered History: A Spirited Weekend of History, Chocolate and Wine and Spirits event, on October 12-13. The Fort’s Author Series begins on June 3 with Author Eliot A. Cohen, author of “Conquered into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battles along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War.
The beautiful King’s Garden, one of North America’s oldest gardens and the largest public garden in the Adirondack-Lake Champlain region, will open on June 1 and offer daily tours and garden-related programs. The formal garden along with the Discovery Gardens – the Garrison Garden, Children’s Garden, and Three Sisters Garden – offer opportunities to enjoy and learn about plants and explore how agriculture on the Fort Ticonderoga peninsula has changed since French troops planted the first gardens in 1756. A new program entitled Growing up with Gardening: Sow, Grow & Know! will be offered in July and August for children ages three through eight years.
The Heroic Maze: A Corn Maze Adventure, the popular Fort family activity, will continue in its second year. Visitors will find clues connected to Fort Ticonderoga’s history while they explore a six-acre corn maze designed in the shape of Fort Ticonderoga! The corn maze opens August 15 and is included with general admission.
Hours and Admission:
Fort Ticonderoga is open daily from May 18 through October 18, 2012 from 9:30 am until 5 pm. General admission to Fort Ticonderoga, a private non-profit organization, is $17.50 for adults, $14.00 for those 62 and over; and $8 for children 5 through 12. Children 4 and under are admitted free of charge. Friends of Fort Ticonderoga and Ticonderoga Resident Ambassador Pass holders are also admitted free.
Fort Ticonderoga offers more than one hundred exciting and unique events and programs this season! Visit www.Fort-Ticonderoga.org for a full list of ongoing programs or call 518-585-2821. Funding for the 2012 season is provided in part by Amtrak. Visit http://www.fortticonderoga.org/visit/directions for a special 2 for 1 Amtrak offer!
FORT TICONDEROGA
America’s Fort
Located on Lake Champlain in the beautiful 6 million acre Adirondack Park, Fort Ticonderoga is a private not-for-profit historic site and museum that ensures that present and future generations learn from the struggles, sacrifices, and victories that shaped the nations of North America and changed world history. Serving the public since 1909, Fort Ticonderoga engages more than 70,000 visitors annually and is dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Fort Ticonderoga’s history. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, Fort Ticonderoga offers programs, historic interpretation, tours, demonstrations and exhibits throughout the year and is open for daily visitation May 18 through October 18. A full schedule and information on events can be found at www.Fort-Ticonderoga.org or phone (518) 585-2821. Fort Ticonderoga is located at 100 Fort Ti Road, Ticonderoga, New York.
The public informational meeting will provide an opportunity for Adirondack residents to learn about training activities which could occur over the Adirondacks if the F-35 aircraft is assigned to VANG’s 158th Fighter Wing.
Blue Mountain Lake, NY – David M. Kahn, Executive Director of the Adirondack Museum, announced today that the museum will launch an exciting new audio tour when the museum reopens for the season on Friday, May 25, 2012.
