Whitehall, NY

We spent a few nights at a nice little campground and marina located at the other end of the Erie Canal off of Lake Champlain. Right outside of the campground was a plaque proclaiming this to be the Birthplace of the United States Navy. The first fleet of Navy ships were built here in 1776.

We drove north to see Fort Ticonderoga, first built by the French in 1755 and first used to attack their English rivals. In 1758, the English took it over but Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the fort in 1775. After the wars, it was abandoned and fell into ruins until purchased and restored in 1909. The fort has many old cannons and displays of historic relics. There were also some docents dressed as French troops who gave tours and displays of musket and cannon firing. We then drove to the top of neighboring Mount Defiance for an interesting view of Fort Ticonderoga from above.