In the small Saratoga County town of Stillwater, on the banks of the Hudson, lies a park with an 18th Century style blockhouse. While not an original construction from the era, it has an interesting history of its own.
In 1927 the blockhouse was constructed to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga, what many consider the turning point of the American revolutionary war. It was then placed on the battlefield, a National Historic Park, and used as the original visitor center for the park. At some point, the park stopped using it as a visitor center but kept it on the park where it fascinated visitors and let them see what a small fortification of that era would have looked like,
The problem with the blockhouse though was that no such fortification ever stood at the battlesite and its presence confused visitors some of whom thought it had been used in the battle. In 1999, a decision was made to remove the blockhouse and put it in this small scenic site on the banks of the Hudson where visitors can picnic and enjoy the site.
What follows next are a series of pictures of the blockhouse. I've attempted to include photos showing details for people who might wish to know how it was constructed or have enough information to build a model of it.
After that I've included pictures of the park, and after that a few pictures, just for fun, of the non-authentic model cannon that someone built and put in the lot of the apartment building next store.
The park itself is located at a scenic site on the banks of the upper Hudson so I've includede several photos of that.
Finally, the apartment building next door has a model cannon behind its parking lot, overlooking the Hudson. It's clearly something that was built for fun, constructed out of what seems to be PVC pipe, and completely and totally non-firing and contains many inaccuracies. It should not be viewed as an authentic replica of a weapon of the time. (an homage perhaps? ) Regardless, it was kind of fun and there's no reason not include these photos of it. Perhaps someone will have fun counting the inaccuracies in the model.
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| A few people wrote their name in the concrete while it was wet. |
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