Crown Point State Historic Site

08/21/2026

08/12/2026

Here is a glimpse of the reenactment from this past weekend (August 8th and 9th). Thank you to all the participants and visitors that attended the reenactment!

Here is a link to our schedule of upcoming events: https://parks.ny.gov/visit/historic-sites/crown-point-state-historic-site

08/06/2026

Experience this weekend's French and Indian War Reenactment at Crown Point State Historic Site!

📆Schedule of Events
⛺Encampment: An 18th century encampment with living history demonstrations will be ongoing throughout the weekend. Join a guided lantern tour of the encampment on Saturday, August 8 at 7PM.

📜Museum Open House (Free Admission): Saturday, August 8 & Sunday, August 9 from 9:30AM–4:30PM.

🇬🇧Demonstrations🇫🇷
Battle Simulations: Saturday, August 8 at 11AM & 2PM and Sunday, August 9 at 11AM.
Weapons Demonstration: Saturday, August 8 at 4PM.

⛈All demonstrations are weather permitting.⛈

Don't know much about the French and Indian War? Crown Point State Historic Site's annual reenactment event is taking place this weekend, and it's a great way to learn more about the conflict and the time period. We've got a weekend of citizen science projects, music, hikes, and more planned across the state, and if you're not heading to the shores of Lake Champlain, there's bound to be something near you. Plan your weekend at https://loom.ly/a27TCZM.

07/09/2026

A tremendous thank you to Fort Ticonderoga for bringing the Crown Point Council of War to life at Crown Point State Historic Site!

07/01/2026

Historic Barracks To Be Stabilized At Crown Point State Historic Site

As part of the state’s 250th commemoration of the American Revolution, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is embarking on a $750,000 barracks preservation project at Crown Point State Historic Site.

The project will stabilize and repair the masonry ruins of the Officers’ Barracks, which were built in 1759 as part of the British fort at Crown Point. In 1775, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, American colonists captured the fort and secured sorely needed cannons and heavy ordnance. Crown Point was occupied by Gen. John Burgoyne's army in 1777 after the American evacuation and it remained under British control until the end of the war in 1783.
https://tinyurl.com/5n7ep6bp

07/01/2026

On July 1, 1776, thousands of war-weary Continental soldiers, some sick with smallpox, were making their way south on Lake Champlain to Crown Point, retreating from their failed campaign to seize Canada from British control. Upon his arrival at Crown Point, General John Sullivan, who had led the army in Canada, wrote to George Washington. “To give you a particular account of the miserable state of our troops,” Sullivan wrote, “the numbers which daily keep dropping into their beds and graves, would rather seem like the effect of imagination than a history of facts.” At Crown Point, however, Sullivan saw reasons to be optimistic, saying “I am now in hopes, as this is a healthy spot, and the country affords good spring water, that we shall soon find the Army regain their health; and that we shall be able to make an effectual stand at this place.” Anticipating that the British Army would be attacking south down the lake in pursuit of the retreating Americans, Sullivan began preparing defenses at Crown Point, telling Washington, “I am now about fortifying this post, which I think may, in a short time, be made strong enough to baffle all the attempts of our enemies.”

Sullivan had his work cut out for him at Crown Point. The British fort at Crown Point, once one of the largest in North America, had burned in a fire in 1773. Earth and wood ruins of the fort remained, along with two stone barracks buildings, both gutted by the 1773 fire. Civilian houses and some other fortifications dotted the peninsula, most over a decade old.

Within a week, Sullivan’s ambitious plan to fortify Crown Point was abandoned. On July 7, 1776, Sullivan and four other generals, Philip Schuyler, Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold, and Baron de Woedtke met in a Council of War at Crown Point and agreed that Crown Point could not be refortified quickly enough in the summer of 1776 to hold off the imminent British attach. Instead, the army would leave Crown Point, move south, and fortify the ground opposite Ticonderoga, which was renamed Mount Independence in the summer of 1776.

📆Tomorrow, on Thursday, July 2nd, Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga will present a short reenactment of the Crown Point Council of War at 5:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public!

06/18/2026

On this day 250 years ago, Benedict Arnold stepped from the shore of the Richelieu River into a boat and set a course south. Behind him lay Fort Saint Jean, which had been taken by Continental forces months earlier after a 45-day siege. Arnold was among the last to retreat from the failed American invasion of Canada, launched nearly a year earlier in the summer of 1775. After dearly won victories at Fort Saint Jean and Montreal, the American invasion stalled at Quebec in the winter of 1775. Smallpox brought death and devastation to the Continental Army’s camps during the winter, and the arrival of British Regulars in the spring of 1776 forced the revolutionaries to abandon their effort to break British control of Canada. With the wreckage of the Canadian invasion behind them in June 1776, the sick and defeated soldiers of the Continental Army retreated south on Lake Champlain towards Crown Point. On June 18th, Fort Saint Jean was abandoned by the Continental Army. To make their retreat, Benedict Arnold and Captain James Wilkinson rode their horses to the shore of the Richelieu and dismounted. Then, before stepping into the boat that would carry them across the lake, both Arnold and Wilkinson shot their horses, not wanting them to fall into the hands of advancing British forces.



The failure of the American invasion of Canada was a devastating defeat in the early years of the American Revolution. In the wake of that defeat, the Northern Department of the Continental Army assembled at Crown Point in late June and early July of 1776, still reeling from their losses in Canada. In the coming weeks we will be looking at important moments from the summer of 1776 following the withdrawal from Canada, the Continental Army’s arrival at Crown Point, and the events leading to the Crown Point Council of War, which established the military strategy for Northern Department in 1776 . Follow us to learn more about the American Revolution at Crown Point State Historic Site.

06/04/2026

Interested in hiking but not sure where to start? Come to Crown Point State Historic Site and explore the hiking trails. Enjoy a peaceful walk along Lake Champlain or explore the ruins of two forts. There are great options for everyone! Be sure to get a copy of the trail map at the visitor center or inside the NY State Parks Explorer app which is available on iOS and Android.

Learn more here:
https://parks.ny.gov/sites/default/files/CrownPointTrailMap.pdf

https://parks.ny.gov/explorer-app



ALT Text: picture of Bobolink field at Crown Point State Historic Site.