Experience Fort Ticonderoga on land and water during the 2015 season, beginning on Saturday, May 9. Fort Ticonderoga is a multi-day family destination that encourages visitors to build their perfect adventure in America’s most historic landscape. Every day is an event at Fort Ticonderoga and every year is a new experience. It is the only site in the world that tells a new story each year through dynamic historical interpretation.

This year is 1756 at Fort Ticonderoga; a fundamental year in the construction of the Fort and the jardin du Roi (King’s Garden). Guests will discover 1756 from the French perspective and explore how it took an empire to sustain and fight for a continent.

Daily programming will bring to life this epic story through new programs and exhibits, living history weekends, special events, gardens, the Carillon Battlefield hiking trail, canoe rentals, Mount Defiance, hands-on family activities, and most recent to this experience—daily boat tours aboard Fort Ticonderoga’s new 60 ft. cruise boat, the Carillon.

“Fort Ticonderoga is a family destination and a center for learning. A visit is an interactive, multi-faceted experience,” said Beth Hill, President and CEO. “It’s exploring the beautiful gardens, finding adventure in our events, marching with the Fife and Drum Corps, and learning about a historic trade. Visitors can engage in a number of interactive experiences as they walk through the restored Fort, immerse themselves in the history of Lake Champlain on a boat tour, and spend an afternoon in our exhibit galleries exploring our premier collections.”

2015 Highlights

Enjoy Fort Ticonderoga from the water aboard the Carillon! The 60-foot, 49-passenger tour boat Carillon offers daily tours around the Ticonderoga Peninsula. Set between the Green and Adirondack Mountains, tours on the Carillon explore not only the epic 18th-century military stories, but also the maritime heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the 1777 American bridge piers to remains of railroads, side-scanning sonar provides a picture of the archaeological wealth that surrounds Ticonderoga.

Experience 1756 this year! A variety of daily soldier’s activities, tours, musket demos, Fife and Drum Corps performances, and special family programming will immerse guests in the story of this remarkable year of when Ticonderoga was the front line of New France.

Step into the shoe maker’s shop and tailor’s shop to explore how Fort Carillon served as a major supply depot producing the shoes and clothing that shaped French uniforms in 1756. With needle and thread or awl and bristle discover what kinds of supplies were used to protect soldiers from the elements at this front-line outpost. From tree to timber and beam to building, watch carpentry in action as French soldiers use hand tools to recreate real buildings from 1756.

Fort Ticonderoga features four new exhibits: 1756: The Front Line of New France, Iron & Stone: Building Fort Carillon, Object Lessons: Perspectives on Material Culture and Diorama-Rama: History in Miniature. The South Barracks has been the museum’s primary exhibition space and has undergone a complete redesign to celebrate its re-opening in 2015. The building encompasses three stories and nearly 10,000 square feet of gallery space covering topics from prehistory to the 20th century.

Recreation activities will highlight Fort Ticonderoga’s rich historic landscape in 2015! A family scavenger hunt will be part of the hiking trail winding around Carillon Battlefield. The trail offers guests an unparalleled opportunity to explore epic history and natural beauty, and the canoe rental program provides a unique perspective of Fort Ticonderoga’s history from the stunning waters of Lake Champlain.

Visit Mount Defiance to witness a birds-eye view of Fort Ticonderoga’s epic military landscape and discover how this summit shaped America’s history! Mount Defiance: Witness to History Tour is offered daily at 4:00 pm.

The beautiful King’s Garden, one of North America’s oldest gardens and the largest public garden in the Adirondack-Lake Champlain region, is now open all season and offers several new garden-related programs for children and adults as well as daily tours. Guests will roll up their sleeves and dig into Fort Ticonderoga’s centuries of horticulture in the formal Colonial Revival garden and five additional plots in the Discovery Gardens. A new interactive Soldiers’ Gardening program welcomes visitors to help tend the gardens alongside French soldiers as they grow rows of vital vegetables to supplement their issued rations of bread, pork, and dried peas. Gardening: Then and Now will encourage visitors to sow and hoe with an early 20th-century interpreter portraying one of the Pell family’s personal gardeners, and learn how gardening supported the family throughout the era of reconstruction.

The Heroic Maze: A Corn Maze Adventure, the popular family activity, will continue in its fifth year with a new design for 2015. Guests will find new clues connected to Fort Ticonderoga’s history while they explore a six-acre corn maze. Hidden in the maze are 8 stations, each representing a component of the 18th-century fort. Players are given a Quest Card to collect a stamp from each station. It takes perseverance and skill to find all of the objects and is great fun for all ages. The corn maze opens August 14 and is included with general admission.

Hours and Admission

Fort Ticonderoga is open daily from May 9 through November 1, 2015 from 9:30 am until 5 pm. General admission tickets to Fort Ticonderoga can be purchased online at www.fortticonderoga.org or on site at the admissions booth upon entry. Members of Fort Ticonderoga and Ticonderoga Resident Ambassador Pass holders are admitted free of charge. Combination tickets for Fort Ticonderoga admission and Carillon boat cruises are available. Two-day admission tickets to Fort Ticonderoga are also available at a discounted rate.

Funding for the 2015 season is provided in part by Amtrak. Visit http://www.fortticonderoga.org/visit/directions for a special 2 for 1 Amtrak offer!

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