Fall of Fort William Henry to be remembered with ceremony, encampment, cookout and film

Aug. 9, 2018, marks the 261st anniversary of the surrender of Fort William Henry. The Fort, raised in 1755 by William Johnson, fell after a six-day siege led by the Marquis de Montcalm. The Fort William Henry Museum will commemorate the anniversary Saturday, Aug. 11 at noon with a wreath laying at the Fort’s Military Cemetery and a reading of the surrender terms.

Saturday, Aug. 11 and Sunday, Aug. 12, the public is invited to visit an 18th Century Military encampment, which will be set up on grounds adjacent to the Fort. French and Indian War reenactors will exhibit camp life with cooking, sewing and tools demonstrations. The camps will be open Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.

From 5 – 6 p.m. on Saturday, the Museum is hosting a cookout with hotdogs and hamburgers. Cost is $5 per person. Following the cookout at 6:30 p.m., the museum is holding a free screening of the movie “One Life to Give,” the award-winning film that tells the story of Nathan Hale and Benjamin Tallmadge. The Yale classmates joined the cause for independence and gathered military intelligence for George Washington.

Hale, who left his position as a Connecticut schoolteacher to fight with the Continental Army, was, at the age of 21, captured by the British and hung as a spy. Reportedly, his last words spoken upon the scaffold were, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”  The film will be shown at Towers Hall on the Fort William Hotel Property.

The Fort William Henry Museum is offering $2 discounts on all museum admissions throughout the weekend.