Saratoga National Historical Park

Posted on January 26, 2019 by

2 Comments

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Visited: July 2018

Duration: 2 hours

Accommodations: Bennington, Vermont

One of the most decisive victories in American and world history was won here at Saratoga. The Battles of Saratoga began in September of 1777, with British Gen. John Burgoyne leading his troops down the Hudson River.  After many weeks of battle Burgoyne’s troops took refuge in a fortified camp in Saratoga.  American forces, that had grown to 17,000 men surrounded the British Army. Burgoyne surrendered in October of 1777.

Here we also learned about Benedict Arnold and his part in the war. This battle was instrumental in bringing in France as an American Ally which later led to Spain joining France in the war against Britain.

We got here later in the afternoon and had about 30 minutes to look through the museum and walk around outside. Great displays in the museum, you could even dress up as soldiers. The Visitor Center is up on the hill with beautiful overlooks of the valley.

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We hopped in the car at Visitor Center closing time and headed out for our very own auto tour of the park.  We grabbed the information packet for each stop at the VC.  You can do an audio tour at Http://sara.toursphere.com but we just drove while I read what was in the brochure.

Here is stop 1: The Freeman Farm Overlook

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Here is stop #2: The Neilson Farm. This is a restored home that looks much like it did in 1777.

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The Monument for the Unknown American Dead

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We breezed by the other 8 stops and got out and looked around. It is a beautiful well kept park, but we are getting hungry. Off to Bennington, Vermont for the night.  The nice Park Rangers knew that we wouldn’t make it back in time to earn our Junior Ranger badge so he entrusted it to me to make sure the kids completed the books. One of them did it 😉

 

Little did any of us know that we would be back in the morning to Saratoga because Gunnar left his passport book in the museum.  Luckily the cleaning lady found it and because we had written our phone # inside of it, they called us before we left Bennington and we made the trip back to retrieve it.

NOTE TO YOURSELF:  Write your phone # in the front of your national park passport book, it is a life saver!!!!

I hope you enjoyed our trip through New York and the Battles of Saratoga.  Have you been here?  It is a beautiful place.

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2 Comments on “Saratoga National Historical Park”

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