Lake George Village may have been the site of the largest military cemetery in the original 13 colonies during the American Revolution.
So suspect many officials, historians and archeologists after discovering human remains on a commercial property not far from the construction site where the bones of roughly 40 American Revolutionary War soldiers were found in February, 2019.
“We think the entire ground was a cemetery,” said Dan Barusch, Director of Planning and Zoning for the Town and the Village of Lake George.
Barusch said there was good reason to believe that the newly discovered remains belonged to a soldier posted at Fort George, the military encampment at the head of the lake established by the British during the French and Indian War.
During the American Revolution, Fort George was the location of the largest military hospital in the colonies, according to Russell Bellico, a trustee of the Lake George Battlefield Alliance and the author of several books about Lake George during the 18th century.
The graves discovered in Lake George Village in 2019 are among the hundreds dug to bury those who died from smallpox and other diseases at the hospital, according to Chuck Vandrei, an Environmental Conservation Department Historic Preservation Officer who has helped lead the archaeological studies of Lake George sites.
“There are consistencies between the burial of these skeletal remains and those found on Courtland Street in 2019, leading us to surmise that these, too, belonged to someone who died at Fort George,” said Dan Barusch.
According to Barusch, the most recent discovery was made by National Grid crews on October 17 behind the Lobster Pot restaurant at the corner of Mohican and Canada Streets.
Once town officials were alerted, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and staff from the New York State Museum and the DEC were notified and the site was secured. New York State archeologists have taken possession of the remains so as to preserve and study them further, said Barusch.
Should they prove to belong to a Revolutionary War soldier, they will be re-interred with the remains of other Revolutionary War dead in a memorial plaza planned for Lake George Battlefield Park.
Photo: People look into hole where the body of an 18th century body was found in Lake George 2023 (provided by Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance).
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
These latest unearthed skeletal remains could be from the French and Indian War, not the Rev War. About 20 years or so ago, a public works crew digging a trench on Canada Street, just up the block from where this skeleton was uncovered earlier this fall, found a human skull. Archaeologist David Starbuck was called in. He said the skull had markings indicating the person had been scalped. Given the location near the original Ft. William Henry, he believed the remains were from the F&IW. The original fort’s military cemetery was only about 100 yards or so from that spot.