Fort Stanwix 250th Anniversary

[rrogers40]

Hey Fort Stanwix NM will be doing their 250th Anniversary this Memorial Day Weekend. Any event like that will be bringing in a lot of reenactors and such- and they are planing on having a dance Saturday Night which should be open to the public around 6:15 PM to 8:30 PM or until they kick you out.

www.nps.gov/fost/planyourvisit/events.htm

[frankcor]

That sounds like fun!

[dgriffin]

You know, it always amazes me that when I was a kid growing up in Utica, I never heard of Fort Stanwix, except in history books. I asked my brother, who now lives in Rome, where it was when we were growing up in Utica in the 1950's. Had the fort been carted off to the Smithsonian? Was it on a tour through Eurpope?
Nope, he said, it was underground! Really? Yup, he said, it sank from the weight of all the 19th century tourist traffic. But in the 1970's, he continued, hydrostatic pressure raised it when luxury boat traffic increased on the Barge Canal.
Is it possible my brother is correct? Or is he just funnin' me.
I asked him if everyone in Rome has crazy ideas like his. He said he doesn't know anyone in Rome except his friends at the Legion.

[frankcor]

The Legion? Well, that might explain your brother's impressions of Romans. All those cheap draft beers and all. LOL!

[dgriffin]

But I still wonder where the fort was when I was a kid.

[frankcor]

Dave

I get it.

I prefer your tour of Europe theory.

[dgriffin]

I'm serious, Frank. Was it covered up with a pile of trash? That's a pretty big hill in the middle of Rome to have been hidden. I don't remember it being open to the public or even any signs for it. Believe me, if it was historic and open for visitors, my father would have taken us there. Even closed. Dad found a way into everything. We toured a shoe factory in 1957 near Plymouth rock when Dad grew tired of the rock and walked to an open window at a nearby factory and got into a conversation with a worker hanging out the window. Five minutes later the five of us were walking among the automated shoe lasts. OSHA? Never heard of 'em. We saw EVERYTHING historic. I remember the day we picked our way down an old dirt road up near Sackett's Harbor to find The Philadelphia Gunboat in a farmer's barn. It's now in the Smithsonian, by the way.
And later I sat in Coal Yard Charlies back in my college summers and didn't know I was in the shadow of Fort Stanwix? How can that be?

[frankcor]

Revolutionary war era forts were designed to present as low a profile as possible -- something about making it harder to hit with cannon fire. Is that ringing a bell somewhere for you?

[rrogers40]

May 18, 2008 20:34:50 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

I'm serious, Frank. Was it covered up with a pile of trash? That's a pretty big hill in the middle of Rome to have been hidden. I don't remember it being open to the public or even any signs for it. Believe me, if it was historic and open for visitors, my father would have taken us there. Even closed. Dad found a way into everything. We toured a shoe factory in 1957 near Plymouth rock when Dad grew tired of the rock and walked to an open window at a nearby factory and got into a conversation with a worker hanging out the window. Five minutes later the five of us were walking among the automated shoe lasts. OSHA? Never heard of 'em. We saw EVERYTHING historic. I remember the day we picked our way down an old dirt road up near Sackett's Harbor to find The Philadelphia Gunboat in a farmer's barn. It's now in the Smithsonian, by the way.
And later I sat in Coal Yard Charlies back in my college summers and didn't know I was in the shadow of Fort Stanwix? How can that be?

Not to call you old or anything- but the Fort was reconstructed for the Bicentennial in 1976. And yes it was covered up with "trash"- AKA: Rome

[dgriffin]

Ryan, 1976 was just as I was hitting my stride as an adult at 33 years of age. But today I'm only 64, not old, except when my wife asks me to do something I'd rather avoid. I guess Ft. Stanwix sat there unsung and unused for years. It's still surprises me, however, since Oriskany Battlefield, Herkimer's Home, etc. were historically marked and the latter even developed. Even the Fort of Saint Marie de Genantetaha (Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois) was rebuilt in Liverpool on the shores of Onondaga Lake. Maybe Rome lost out on federal funds for the fort until the 1970's.

[frankcor]

Yeah, it was called urban renewal.

My advice for all cities out there -- if the feds every say "let's tear down your downtown and replace it with a fort" I suggest you turn the money down.

[Clipper]

I agree Frank. Rome's personality and ambience were seriously altered when urban renewal destroyed the "American Corner" and "old downtown" along Dominick and Liberty streets. In hindsight, it makes no sense whatsoever, to have spent all the millions to turn Dominick St into a "walking mall" and then to spend millions more, to return it to a vehicular right of way. My only headache with the "old" downtown Rome was the diagonal parking. It was a pain in the ass to get out of a parkings space and into traffic without and horns blowing or being cussed at! lol.

I like the Fort, and have visited it on several occasions, but the businesses it replaced were of more value to me personally.