Fort Ticonderoga: Past to Present

Tonetti Associates Architects designed the recent reconstruction of Fort Ticonderoga’s Le Magasin du Roi as the Mars Education Center, marking the largest capital project undertaken in the museum’s 95-year history.

The original fort was built by the French between 1754 and 1757 during the Seven Years’ War, often referred to as the French and Indian War, to control the south end of Lake Champlain and prevent the British from gaining military access to the lake. Thus it was of strategic importance during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France, and again played a role during the American Revolutionary War.

During the 1758 Battle of Carillon, 4,000 French defenders were able to repel an attack by 16,000 British troops near the fort. In 1759, the British returned and, under the leadership of General Jeffery Amherst, laid siege to the Fort. The French were ill equipped to withstand the superior numbers of the British, and after a four-day siege, they abandoned the Fort after blowing up the powder magazine (the building which Tonetti Associates recently rebuilt). During the American Revolutionary War, the fort again saw action in May 1775 when the Green Mountain Boys and other state militia under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured it in a surprise attack. Cannons captured were transported to Boston where their deployment forced the British to abandon the city in March 1776. The Americans held it until June 1777, when British forces under General John Burgoyne again occupied high ground above the fort and threatened the Continental Army troops, leading them to withdraw from the fort and its surrounding defenses. The only direct attack on the fort took place in September 1777, when John Brown led 500 Americans in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the fort from about 100 British defenders.

The British abandoned the fort following the failure of the Saratoga campaign, and it ceased to be of military value after 1781. It fell into ruin, leading people to strip it of some of its usable stone, metal, and woodwork. It became a stop on tourist routes of the area in the 19th century. Its private owners restored the fort early in the 20th century. A foundation now operates the fort as a tourist attraction, museum, and research center.