The King's Garden (Fort Ticonderoga)

For me the best part of our visit to Fort Ticonderoga was the time we spent at The King’s Garden. The antithesis of everything a military fort stands for, I loved the acres and acres of flowers, the huge vegetable garden, the happy chickens pecking for bugs, and the rolling green hills leading down to Lake Champlain. Peaceful, verdant, and inviting, I easily could have spent hours wandering the grounds, meditating beneath a shady tree, or enjoying the stillness of a reflecting pool.

Although a part of the Fort, which I posted about below, we had so many pictures of the grounds of the garden, I felt it deserved its own space. In 1756 the French planted the first garden on the Ticonderoga peninsula and called it le Jardin du Roi (The King’s Garden), and it was intended for both pleasure and purpose. Beautiful to look at, but functional as well, raising food to supplement the diets of those who lived and visited Fort Ticonderoga.

Over the years the gardens died off and were revitalized a number of times, for a variety of reasons, and has a long legacy, including being preserved as a landmark in the nineteenth century, and monumental restoration in the 20^th century. I very much enjoyed exploring one of the oldest cultivated landscapes in America.

Ticonderoga, New York

All good things must come to an end, isn’t that how the saying goes? So it seemed when it was time to pack up and leave Maine, saying goodbye to our one-month “home” on the outskirts of Acadia National Park. We plotted the next leg of our journey to slowly meander south and west, trekking across the country with longer stops in Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Utah, and finally, landing back in Tucson, Arizona come October 2016. Although at times we may cover the same general geographical areas, if we can incorporate a slightly different route to go somewhere new, we do, and that is what brought us to Ticonderoga, New York in mid-August for a three day stay.

Ticonderoga is located at the confluence of Lake George and Lake Champlain in the southeastern corner of Essex County, and is entirely located within the Adirondack Park. The name comes from the Mohawk tekontaró:ken, meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways”. For such a small town, a hamlet really (population only around 5000), there is much that is notable here. Remember the standard yellow Ticonderoga brand pencil with the green stripes near the eraser? The graphite mines of Ticonderoga provided them the lead, and their name. Historic Fort Ticonderoga can be found here, and this was a popular area for 17^th century explorers, such as Samuel de Champlain.

And while I’m not usually overly enthusiastic about visiting military installations, we did take the time to tour Fort Ticonderoga while we were here. This town was the setting for historic battles and maneuvers during both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution so there is a lot of history here. The fort was originally constructed by the French, who called it Fort Carillon, and was captured and renamed a number of times before all was said and done. During our visit, I appreciated seeing the interpretive staff dressed in period clothing, and living out a typical day at the fort, lending a sense of authenticity to the surroundings. Part of the grounds of Fort Ticonderoga includes the Kings Gardens, acres and acres of vegetable and flower gardens, and where food was grown to help supplement the diet of the soldiers who lived here. (I will do a separate post on these gardens – my favorite part of the tour!).

The first day of our stay we made a brief tour of the village, took the River Walk along the La Chute River, and toured Fort Ticonderoga. Here are pictures of that day.