There are 50 geocaches hidden within 16 state parks and state historic sites in the Saratoga/Capital District region, and geocachers finding them all will be eligible to enter their names in a drawing for valuable prizes. If you are interested in taking up the challenge, you can pick up a geocache passport at any of the participating parks and sites, or download the passport at www.nysparks.com.
When Samuel de Champlain saw Crown Point in 1609, this limestone peninsula was considered to be at the frontier between the Mohawk Iroquois (to the west) and the Western Abenaki Woodland Indians (to the east). In the 18th century, European settlement brought territorial competition between New France (to the north) and British colonies (to the south). Surrounded by competing forces, Crown Point was long a popular staging area for raids and military campaigns. French-built Fort St. Frédéric made Crown Point a military stronghold for New France. With the onset of the French and Indian War, the British made taking Crown Point from the French an annual priority. After the French blew up their fort and their fortified windmill and abandoned their settlements, in late-July 1759, the British Army and Provincial troops from colonial New England New York arrived and built a vast fort, defensive redoubts and blockhouses, a lake fleet, and a 77-mile road to from Lake Champlain to the “fort at #4” on the Connecticut River.
An accidental fire in 1773 so thoroughly and permanently ruined the giant British fort that it was reduced to secondary importance in the 1775-83 War for American Independence. Still, 29 of the 111 cannons that the Green Mountain Boys liberated from Crown Point on May 11, 1775 were used in 1776 to drive the British out of Boston and the ruins of Crown Point’s fort walls still stand today, some 255-280 years after they were built.
Park in the museum parking lot! Enjoy!