- Crown Point State Historic Site will participate in the annual Festival of Nations / Fête des Nations event with one afternoon of dressing museum staff in clothing that was carefully researched and reproduced to authentically portray what a French soldier, officer, and officer’s wife would be wearing at Fort St. Frédéric in the 1740s. Saturday, September 21, from 12:30 until 4:30 p.m. is when visiting families will enjoy pretending to wear Colonial era garb while parents are welcome to take photos of their little youngsters as they pose behind two-dimensional painted scenes showing one boy and one girl dressed for the 1700s. Guests will want to bring a camera. The French military units that manned Fort St. Frédéric at Crown Point for a quarter century (1734-1759) were known as Les Compagnies Franches de la Marine, roughly translated as “independent naval companies.” The French military used their naval forces to defend their colonial New France military posts, such as Québec, Montréal, Chambly, Fort St. Frédéric, and eventually Carillon, because they were located overseas, far from France itself. The Festival of Nations public event is offered jointly by New York State’s Crown Point historic site and the State of Vermont’s nearby Chimney Point historic site. On the first day of the Festival, atlatl-making workshop participants will learn how people hunted before the invention of the bow and arrow. The workshop is offered at Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison, Vermont on the afternoon of Friday, September 20. Pre-registration is required. The workshop is the first day of the annual three-day Northeast Open Atlatl Championship held on the grounds of Chimney Point on September 20, 21, and 22, 2013. Crown Point has a unique historical importance, both geographically and archeologically. Before the 1730s, Woodlands Indians camped on the peninsula. In 1734, the French military built an impressive stronghold here, Fort St. Frédéric, with its tall limestone tower and even a fortified and wind-powered grist mill. A quarter-century later, when the British arrived, they added an even larger fort complex at Crown Point. The limestone ruins of both the French-built fort and of the earthen walls and limestone barracks of the British fort are located on an extra-ordinary scenic point of land that juts into the wide open lake, beside the Lake Champlain Bridge. For information about the site or the event, the public may contact the site’s museum at 518-597-3666 or visit the agency’s web site at nysparks.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 11:55:12 +0000
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