Lake George Battlefield Park Visitors Center is wrapping up a record season

The Lake George Battlefield Park Visitors Center’s 2024 season is coming to a close. Sunday, Oct. 27 will be the final day of operation for the year. According to Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance President John DiNuzzo, this year brought nearly 3,500 visitors to the Center, an increase of 45 percent over last year’s attendance. The Visitors Center on Fort George Road opened in May 2022 in the lower level of the new Lake George Park Commission building.

“With the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026 on the horizon,” says DiNuzzo, “along with the soldiers’ reinterment and the existing remnants in the Park from two crucial 18th Century wars, Lake George Battlefield Park is poised to be a major national heritage destination for years to come.”

The 2024 season saw improvements inside and outside the Center as well as upgrades throughout the surrounding park. New this year is the installation of Park Orientation signs outside the Center’s entrance. The signs give visitors an overview of the park’s history as the site of significant battles of the French and Indian War, the role the grounds played during the American Revolution, and the importance of activity at the head of Lake George to the nation’s founding.

The resin signs were funded by the Lake George Park Commission and erected by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. DEC also built a paved walkway that connects the Visitors Center to the network of paths throughout the park.

Inside the center, the French and Indian War exhibits were expanded with the addition of two c.1758 mortar bombs (on loan from the NYS Museum) that were raised offshore from the park in the 1960s. A scale model of a Colonial Batteaux, built by Paul S. Andriscin from a kit donated by Joseph W. Zarzynski, is another addition, which provides a reference for visitors to a display of Batteaux artifacts recovered from Lake George. Hague Artisan Al Rider created and donated a live edge waterfall entry desk for the Center with black walnut donated by Northern Hardwoods of Lake George.

Throughout the season, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance offers guided Saturday park tours. This past June, visitors had the opportunity to witness an archaeological survey of the grounds, the first survey conducted in the park since 2016. Dr. Siobhan Hart, chair of the Skidmore College Anthropology Department, led the team. Dr. Hart hopes to return to further her work in 2025.

The Alliance also offered the public tours of the Battle of Lake George battle lines led by Mark Silo. Nearly 60 people joined in the most recent tour, which was held earlier this month.

The Lake George Battlefield Park Visitors Center will be open for its final weekend Friday, Oct.28 through Sunday, Oct. 27, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and will reopen in May 2025. Groups interested in touring the center during the off-season may contact the Alliance at info@lakegeorgebattlefield.org.

Featured image: Historian and former Alliance Trustee Russell Bellico with Park Orientation signs at Lake George Battlefield Park Visitor Center entrance.