“These are mere deserts on both sides of the river St. Lawrence, uninhabited by beast or bird on account of the severe colds which reign there.”—Samuel de Champlain.
“One cannot see a more savage country, and no part of the earth is more uninhabitable.” —Pierre Charlevoix, 1756. And about winters in the north: “It is then a melancholy thing not to be able to go out of doors, unless you are muffled up with furs like the bears…. What can anyone think, where the very bears dare not show their face to the weather for six months in the year!”
The last quotation (1767) is from John Mitchell, who cited the above comments by Charlevoix and Champlain in assessing New England, New York, and Quebec during discussions about the future of the American colonies. His writings at that time supported a solution Mitchell had proposed a decade earlier, one that would have drastically altered today’s map of the Americas and seriously revised the history of the Adirondack region. [Read more…] about 1757: What Adirondack History Might Have Been
Registration is now open for Fort Ticonderoga’s Twenty-Second Annual War College of the Seven Years’ War, May 19 to 21, 2017.
Schenectady County Historical Society will host a book talk and signing with historian William Griffith on Saturday, February 4th at 2 pm at the Mabee Farm Historic Site.
Crown Point State Historic Site will host its annual French and Indian War Encampment on August 13 and 14, 2016. This is the largest event of the year at the site and features authentically clad French, British, and Native American participants camped among the fort ruins. Guests to the camp are able to interact with the participants portraying various people of Crown Point’s past and also have the opportunity to purchase some of the 18th century wares produced and exhibited by artisans and merchants. 
