Fort Stanwix National Monument, a Revolutionary War Fort in upstate New York

Blogging, blogging. It's something that's kind of new to me or at least I don't feel that I have the hang of it, at least not yet.  So, let's introduce ourselves. My name is Peter Huston, I am a resident of upstate New York and have always had an interest in the local history, particularly that of the American Revolutionary War. You will see much on that here.  

Long ago, I developed an interest in other cultures and countries and it somehow became largely focused on the nations of east Asia and their histories and cultures. At one time, my goal was to become a professor of Chinese and related history, but I wound up with a master's degree instead of a Ph.D. The paper actually says East Asian Studies, not history, but the bulk of my studies, including the Master's Thesis, were focused on history.  If interested, you can find the thesis on line here: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/8399  Therefore, there will be much on that here.

I am also a miniature wargamer and have been enjoying this hobby since middle school. Therefore, there will be much on that hobby here as well. 

Use the tabs, search subjects, please feel free to explore. As I write this, on March 25, 2020, we are in the midst of a recommended lock down. and I hope to use some of this time to post things, finishing up the unfinished drafts and photos that have been sitting here forever. 

I hope you will consider subscribing to this blog or making a purchase through our links or leaving a comment or forwarding a link to an interesting post to others. Anything that shows interest and appreciation in this project would be much appreciated. In the meantime, please feel free to browse a bit. There's a lot here. Perhaps something will interest you. 

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Fort Stanwix

In the small city of Rome, New York, not too far from Utica and Syracuse, and just down the road from the Oriskany Battlefield and the retirement home of Von Steuben, lies Fort Stanwix National Historical Park. I visited their last winter one day and had an interesting visit and took lots of pictures. 

Remember what I said about blogging being new to me? This is one of those points where I am forced to make a choice and lack much experience. Should I, for instance, merely show the ten favorite pictures or so? The normal way for a publication aimed at the general public. Or should I dump every single picture of the place I have on the blog? My suspicion is that this would be preferred by the hardcore readers. Those who wish to really know how the fort was put together or might be interested in modelling a replica of the fort or one like it and perhaps one of these photos might prove useful when they model the nooks and crannies far away from the front entrance. Lacking feedback, I'm going to post all the photos. As mentioned, these photos have been sitting here since last winter waiting to be posted, and it seems about time to share them, even if it's not done perfectly. Again, feedback is appreciated. If you have a question about one of the photos, try leaving a question as a comment and I'll do what I can to answer it.

In the past I have tried to produce more in-depth pieces for my blog, and will do so again from time to time. Here's one from my trip to the fort. It focuses on the representation of the Indians in the visitor center exhibits. Because it's been covered before, I decided not to reshare the bulk of the photos that I used on this page.
https://history-for-fun-profit-and-insight.blogspot.com/2018/12/indians-in-american-revolution.html

The History of Fort Stanwix

Second question for a novice blogger. How much time should I spend offering the basic history of Fort Stanwix? Should I offer a well-written, popular history of the event? Or, by contrast, as I have some academic training, should I instead take the lofty academic approach, and find some question, some aspect of the events or context of what happened at Fort Stanwix in 1777 and research and explore it in depth, with the ultimate goal being to ad to mankind's collective understanding of the event? (This is what academics are encouraged to do when writing a master's thesis or PhD dissertation. You can see some of that in my MA thesis, linked to above. Be advised, it often produces interesting results but it does take a lot of time.) 

But this is a blog. And, to some extent, the goal is to produce interesting content quickly and regularly. And therefore I will take a third path and merely offer these links. If you wish to know the history of the fort, follow them. Why should I reinvent the wheel? 

1. Fort Stanwix National Monument official site
2.  Battlefields.org
3. A revolutionary day website

All look interesting and provide a good overview of the fort and its history.

Photos of the Outside of the Fort 

While I recommend that you contact the fort staff before visiting to learn hows of operation and access policies (the link is above in the history of the fort section), when I was there last year, the policy was that during warm months the fort's main gate was unlocked during daytime hours and more or less full access was provided to daytime visitors. During the winter, when I visited, there was an hourly tour given by a well informed ranger in costume. If one wished, you could obtain one of those recorded self-guided walking tour machines and it would give information about the important points on the small area immediately surrounding the fort. As the fort is now located inside an urban area, it does not have vast sweeping tracts of land.

I took both the self-guided and the guided tour as I arrive just a little too late to go with the ranger and had time to spare.'

Here are several photos that I took. I hope they answer at least some of any questions you might have about the fort and its construction.

Photos from Inside the Barracks and other 

Buildings inside the Fort 

The Visitors' Center

Outside the Fort

Finally, just a few shots of the outside of the fort and the monument. I like to include some of these so that people can get a sense of the site in its modern context and setting.

A very badly focused photo of the nearby "Colonial Laundromat," a funny name, I thought. If you wish, learn more here: https://www.eaglenewsonline.com/news/new/business/2018/07/22/a-cny-success-story/

Vinh Moc Tunnels, Vietnam, Museum and Preservation Efforts, December 2019, part one

Greetings,  In December of 2019 and January of 2020, I visited the nation of Vietnam. While there, I made a special effort to see the Vinh Moc Tunnels. The Vinh Moc Tunnels are often considered the best preserved Vietnam War tunnel system that exists today. Unlike the better known Cu Chi Tunnel System, which was created primarily by and for military use by military personnel (I am including the Viet Cong as military personnel ), the Vinh Moc Tunnels were created primarily for civilian use. They were intended as a system for safe and hidden transportation and safe shelter during the frequent American bombing raids.  (There doesn't seem to be too much easily available on the web about the Vinh Moc Tunnels. Therefore, with a recognition of all its faults and weaknesses, I offer this link to wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%E1%BB%8Bnh_M%E1%BB%91c_tunnels ) 

The author, in the tunnels

In this post, I will focus on the preservation, maintenance, and upkeep aspects of the Vinh Moc tunnels. The "museum side" of things. While I am not a museum professional, and would welcome feedback from those who are, I hope to give enough information here to give some sense of how a relatively recent historical site in a developing nation is maintained.

I hope to do a few posts on my day at the tunnels. Perhaps I'll also be able to get out some old photos and can share images of the current Cu Chi tunnels (which are not, according to the Lonely Planet Guidebook, either completely authentic or accurate but do give an interesting feel for what the tunnels were like. In my opinion, both tunnels are well worth visiting if you have the time.) 

Visitors Facilities

The Vinh Moc Tunnels does have two buildings for visitors. Both are relatively primitive but informative.

There are two museum type buildings to welcome visitors. This is the one closest to the entrance. It is used primarily to show a film about the site and its history.  The film was in Vietnamese but it did have English subtitles.

Behind the site, next to the public bathrooms, chickens graze on the lawn.
There is a 2000VND fee to use the restroom and a person sits there to collect it. This is less than 10 cents.

Along the public walkway, there are many vendors stands that sell drinks and snacks.
The vendors call to visitors as they pass. "Hello, you wanta buy something?"

Modern, generally good quality walkways have been added for visitors.

More chickens on one of the less well paved, side routes for the complex.

The tunnels were originally built as bomb shelters for the local civilian population who were subjected to frequent, intensive bombing campaigns by the American Air Force. This is a display of some of the different kinds of ordinance that was dropped on the region. My understanding, and I do not have details at this time, is that one challenge in opening the site for tourism was unexploded ordinance and how to disarm it. 

Another shot of the ordinance monument / display,

Just a photo of a nearby farm house that borders on the tunnel area. I am not sure if there is any connection between the people who live inside (or their chickens) with the monument itself.

Entrances

The tunnel complex had many entrances. Historically these entrances were often kept concealed and hidden from view, something that is not desirable when tourists and other visitors come. Also, my suspicion is that the entrances were some of the most vulnerable parts of the system, most prone to collapse, and needed to be given extra reinforcement and structural support. Additionally the tunnel entrances are now used by many people every day of the week all year long, and, probably, ironically, see much more traffic than they did when the system was used a s

Obviously the entrance has been reconstructed and in a more reinforced and sturdy fashion than the original.

This portion of the tunnel entrance has been reinforced with wood, something that I am quite certain never occurred with the original. If memory serves me right, I do not think that such supports were here the first time I visited in 2007. Notice the stairs heading down.

While clearly a substandard picture, notice the two boards that cross the tunnel entrance. While easily bypassed, these are meant to warn and deter vistors that this area of the tunnel is not intended for unescorted visitors on their own. Later, with a guide ( a story that I will share in a different post ) I got to visit this area of the tunnel.

Another rebuilt tunnel entrance. This one also have a cross bar indicating that it should not be entered by unescorted visitors. 

Another entrance with wooden reinforcements.

Wooden reinforcements that show a crack in the wood and concrete reinforcements on the other side. Notice the Vietnamese language graffiti. This was not uncommon in the tunnels.

Another tunnel entrance, this one on the side of the area that borders the ocean. 

Electric Lighting

I do not believe the electric lights here were part of the original tunnel system. I believe that instead home made lanterns using oil and candles hung on the wall were a major part of the system but there may have been other parts of the tunnel available as well.

This is what the original lighting looked like. It was made out of an old bottle, perhaps one discarded by the American forces.

Internal Tunnel Maintenance

Inside the tunnels there was a lot of reinforcement of the walls being done with concrete. Here are a few photos to show such work.

The tunnel ceiling. My guess is that there is a plan to cover this with wood. Notice the bricks. I do not believe that these were used much in the original tunnels.

A rebuilt tunnel entrance made entirely of concrete.

Now this is particularly interesting. In one part of the tunnels, an area not normally open to unescorted visitors, a metal sheet covered with the red, muddy clay of the tunnels covered part of the tunnel. Down the side I could see extensive digging, and a deep, unsafe looking tunnel that went down to who knows where. Of course, I had to ask, and my guide told me that under the metal sheet there was a bomb shelter from the war days.

Of course, with all this concrete work being done, one must have wheelbarrows,
and I found a pair of them, covered with concrete in a cubby hole on the side of the tunnel.
Why waste time each day bringing them up and down, into and out of the tunnel each night?

Tourist Signs

One can't have a historical site open to the public without at least a few signs, can you?

I'm not sure if this is historically sound or if it is a modern restoration and preservation work, but there are drainage ditches next to the tunnels.

Finally, a couple photos of yours truly, the author, 

exploring the tunnels

A Vietnamese language travel video on the tunnels

Books for Sale

(just FYI, at this time, I am straightening out an issue with Amazon. So I won't actually get credit if you buy any of these books --except, of course, the books by me at the end, but the first five won't get me anything or support this blog. Nevertheless, they are all excellent books and I enjoyed them all.) 

FINALLY

books by me. If you really want to support this blog,or enjoy it and wish to see what else I've done, please check this out. Thanks.