A Weekend at Fort Ticonderoga

Up in Ticonderoga they just call it "The Fort."  My neighbor, a native of upstate New York, calls it "Fort Ti."  Whatever you call it, there is a renewed sense of energy at Fort Ticonderoga these days.  Under the very capable leadership of executive director Beth Hill, the staff at Fort Ticonderoga is working hard to make the site a first-rate center of history tourism and history education.  They have a new website, new programs and exhibits, and an exciting new business plan for revitalizing the region and bringing more visitors to the fort.

Part of that revived mission is the Seminar on the American Revolution. As I noted in my previous post on this subject, I was part of the program this weekend.  On Sunday morning I shared some material from Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? with a very knowledgeable audience of American revolution buffs.  I thought the talk went well.  I got to make my pitch for historical thinking, share some stuff on the religious beliefs of the founders, and meet many interesting people in the process.  My only disappointment was that due to an oversight by the bookstore staff Was America Founded was not available for sale.  (A few attendees brought their personal copies for me to sign and the bookstore did sell several copes of The Way of Improvement Leads Home).

I also got to hear a few good presentations.

For example, Andrew Wehrman, a former T.H. Breen student at Northwestern who now teaches at Marietta College in Ohio, gave a great talk on George Washington's decision to inoculate the Continental Army against smallpox.  Wehrman traced Washington's initial opposition to inoculation and debunked Washington biographers who assumed he always supported the practice.

Dick Archer, author of As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution, argued that the people of Boston were "radicalized" and became, in spirit, a separate nation around the time of the Boston Massacre.   As I listened to Archer speak I thought about recent works by Breen (American Insurgents) and Brendan McConnville, (The King's Three Faces) that have both suggested that a sense of "American" identity did not happen until 1774 and 1775 respectively. 

It was also good to connect with some folks I have not seen in a while such as Bruce Venter from the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond  (check out his historic tour business) and John Nagy from the American Revolution Roundtable of Philadelphia (who gave an interesting presentation on his new book Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution). 

On Sunday morning I got to spend some time with Susanna Carey, a former student of mine at Messiah College.  She drove about 90 minutes with her Dad from the Lake Placid area.  It was good to see Susanna and I was excited to learn she is planning on pursuing a master's degree in history education.

If you get the chance, I encourage you to make a visit to Fort Ticonderoga. It is worth the trip.