History, Natural History & the Arts
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. [Read more…] about More 18th Century War Dead Remains Found in Lake George
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum announced today the appointment of new executive director, Chris Sabick. Sabick has been the museum’s director of research and archaeology since 2013 and brings decades of experience and a career-long dedication to Lake Champlain, research, history and public access into this new leadership role. [Read more…] about Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Names New Director
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is dedicated to inspiring people to make personal connections to Lake Champlain through our region’s history, ecology, and archeology.
For the Museum’s archaeology team, this work of making connections includes conducting ongoing archeological research, on land and underwater; caring for our collection of artifacts and research; and managing Lake Champlain’s underwater cultural resources and the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserves, a unique system of shipwrecks in the lake open for divers to explore each May–October.
The flooding and ongoing climate change are threats to our work, Lake Champlain, and the lake’s shipwrecks and other underwater cultural resources. [Read more…] about Climate Change & Lake Champlain’s Underwater History
According to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.
Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region
Archaeological excavations are underway at Fort Plain Museum on weekends through August 27, 2023 with the goal of seeking archaeological information to help in the reconstruction of ovens and a bakehouse that are believed to once have stood at the Revolutionary War era fort. [Read more…] about Archaeological Excavations Underway at Revolutionary Fort Plain
A vacant lot adjacent to the site where Revolutionary War soldiers and others who died at the smallpox hospital at Fort George at the south end of Lake George were buried may be preserved as open space, with a historical marker denoting its historical significance. [Read more…] about Lake George Officials Hope to Acquire Revolutionary Burial Ground
Many of the descriptions about fortifications in the Upper Hudson Valley, close to New France, were written by soldiers, travelers and settlers during the wars in the 18th century and into the 19th century.
Since many of the North American colonies were defended by Independent Companies, the regular English and, later, British armies had little direct influence on fortification designs, which created a high demand for the assistance of military engineers. [Read more…] about Early Forts Near Old Saratoga: Some History
Lake George’s drive to honor the many who died at the smallpox hospital at Fort George in the first years of the American Revolution has gained new momentum. [Read more…] about Growing Support for Reinternment of Lake George Colonial War Dead
The vast majority of participants in the military events of the long 18th century left no written traces of themselves. Fortunately for scholars, and the public, evidence of their presence survives in material form. [Read more…] about Military Material Culture Conference Call for Papers
My first brush with the artifacts of history came when I was a youngster on a family vacation to Cooperstown, Otsego County, NY. I found the famous Baseball Hall of Fame, with its baggy uniforms, battered bats and flattened fielders’ mitts, decidedly ho-hum. I couldn’t wait to get to the nearby Farmers’ Museum and see something that I had heard of with wonder: the Cardiff Giant. [Read more…] about There Were Giants in the Earth in Those Days