State seeks public comment on Battlefield Park reinterment proposal

In 2019, while excavating for a construction project on Cortland Street in the Village of Lake George, a construction crew discovered human remains. Archaeologists and anthropologists analyzed the remains and concluded they are those of 44 Continental soldiers who succumbed to smallpox at the Continental Army hospital, which operated at the head of Lake George in 1776.

Community historians with the support of the Town of Lake George, the Village of Lake George and New York Senator Charles Schumer, recommended the soldiers’ remains be reinterred in Battlefield Park near where they died. The proposed site is approximately 75 feet from the Grave of the Unknowns, where four soldiers killed in the Battle of Lake George are buried. The proposed project includes a memorial plaza.

The Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance Board of Trustees describes the envisioned plaza as, “a quiet, contemplative place where visitors can pay homage to the soldiers for the sacrifices they made for future generations. The setting will include informational signage that tells of the soldiers’ plight during that pivotal year of 1776 when the United States formally came into being.” Project details and architectural renderings of the proposed memorial, drafted by Studio A, may be found on the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation website.  

Before construction can begin, the state must amend the Lake George Beach and Battlefield Park Unit Management Plan. NYS DEC and the Adirondack Park Agency are currently seeking public comment on the proposal. The Battlefield Park Alliance is encouraging anyone interested in the preservation of this history to comment on this project by writing or sending an email to:

Charles E. Vandrei
NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, New York 12233-1500
Email: OINA@dec.ny.gov

And/or

Megan Phillips
Adirondack Park Agency
PO Box 99
Ray Brook, NY 12977
Email: SLMP_UMP_comments@apa.ny.gov

The public commenting period closes February 19, 2024.

Featured image: Proposed facility “View of Columbariums”/Lake George Battlefield Park Unit Management Plan, studio A Landscape Architecture-Engineering, DPC