An 18th-century star fort that changed hands four times in 22 years, now a working museum where staff report artifact-rearranging poltergeist activity and the ghost of a woman drowned in Lake Champlain.
102 Fort Ti Road, Ticonderoga, NY 12883
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
General admission required; premium tours available for additional cost. See fortticonderoga.org for current pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic fortification with stone walkways, stairs, and uneven ground. Some areas accessible; call ahead for details.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1755 · French Fort Carillon constructed 1755–1757, Vauban star-fort design · Battle of Carillon 1758: 4,000 French repelled 16,000 British troops · Captured by Ethan Allen and Green Mountain Boys, May 10, 1775 · Henry Knox transported its cannons to Boston, enabling British evacuation 1776 · National Historic Landmark, 1960
The site at the narrows between Lake Champlain and Lake George had been understood as strategically essential since the earliest European mapping of the region. French forces began constructing Fort Carillon there in October 1755, employing engineer Michel Chartier de Lotbinière to design a Vauban-style star fort. The name Ticonderoga derives from Iroquois words describing the sound of the La Chute River rapids nearby.
The fort's most famous engagement occurred on July 8, 1758, during the Seven Years' War. A British force of roughly 16,000 troops under General James Abercrombie attacked a French garrison of approximately 4,000 men. The French held their log breastworks and repelled the assault, inflicting roughly 2,000 British casualties in what remains one of the most disproportionate military defeats in North American history. The following year, 1759, British forces under General Jeffrey Amherst returned with a superior force and the French withdrew, abandoning and partially destroying the fort.
On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys captured the fort from a small British garrison, famously demanding its surrender "in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Benedict Arnold arrived simultaneously with his own commission; the two disputed command on the spot. The cannons captured at Ticonderoga were later hauled overland to Boston by Henry Knox and used to force the British evacuation of that city in March 1776.
British forces retook the fort in July 1777 under General John Burgoyne, who recognized that occupying Mount Defiance to the south gave him a commanding position. American forces abandoned the fort rather than face bombardment. After Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga that autumn, the fort's strategic value effectively ended.
The Pell family purchased the ruins in 1820 and began restoration. William Ferris Pell's granddaughter Sarah Gibbs Thompson Pell is credited with the most intensive phase of reconstruction in the early 20th century. The Fort Ticonderoga Association was incorporated in 1931 to operate the site, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Sources
The most specific and durable paranormal account at Fort Ticonderoga involves Nancy Coats, identified in local accounts as a woman romantically involved with General Anthony Wayne during his Revolutionary War service. She reportedly drowned herself in Lake Champlain after receiving word that Wayne had left without her. Multiple visitor accounts describe a female figure walking the fort's outer pathways and appearing at the waterline; the sound of sobbing has also been reported near the lake.
Staff accounts document a more mundane category of activity: artifacts discovered rearranged in locked display cases. This is the kind of claim that resists easy explanation — access to locked cases is controlled — and it has been mentioned independently by multiple fort employees across different periods.
Sarah Pell, from the family that undertook the fort's 20th-century restoration, is said to appear at an upper window of the Pavilion, looking out toward the King's Garden. A separate account describes the spirit of a young Native American woman who jumped from the fort's walls in the 1750s; she has been reported walking the upper battlements. Multiple visitors have described seeing soldiers in uniform in the upper-floor barracks windows.
The Ghost Hunters television program filmed an investigation at the fort. Their team documented voices on recording equipment, unexplained creaking doors, benches that appeared to rock without cause, and unaccounted thumping sounds. Team members also reported personal sensory experiences, though the investigators attributed some phenomena to structural causes.
Annual Garrison Ghost Tours, typically held on October evenings, bring together staff accounts and investigation findings into a 90-minute walking program. The tours have historically run on two dates per October season.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Admission includes access to the reconstructed fort, barracks, powder magazine, and museum collections featuring one of North America's largest 18th-century material culture collections. Daily living history demonstrations by costumed interpreters run throughout the season.
Annual October ghost tours that feature staff and volunteer accounts of paranormal experiences at the fort, including findings from a Ghost Hunters television investigation. Tours historically run on select October evenings at 8:00 PM; check fortticonderoga.org for current season dates. Advance reservations required.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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