The unfolding history of pivotal Lake George, through nearly two centuries of eyewitness written accounts.
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The unfolding history of pivotal Lake George, through nearly two centuries of eyewitness written accounts.
As he did in Chronicle of Lake Champlain, Russell Bellico presents the history of Lake George in selections from letters, journals and publications of those who have sojourned on the lake from the 18th to the early 20th century. As a natural water highway in the early 18th century, Lake George was immersed in the political and military struggle for control of North America, first pitting the British against the French and their Native American allies and then the Americans against the British. This history comes alive in the words of eyewitnesses: travelers and adventurers, soldiers and military prisoners, officials, early 1800s tourists and late 19th century resort guests. Bellico introduces each except by giving the historical context.
“Like time travelers, the chroniclers of Lake George have viewed the lake during different epochs. From explorers aboard bateaux who observed virgin forests to vacationers perusing elegant hotels from the decks of steamboats; from soldiers who manned radeaux and armed sloops to today’s boatsmen on high-powered craft; from troops shocked by deafening artillery explosions during the 1757 siege at Fort William Henry to tourists who blithely watch radiant bursts of fireworks along the replica of the fort – all of these visitors have formed indelible images of Lake George.” — from the Introduction
Russell P. Bellico is a professor emeritus at Westfield State University in Massachusetts. He is the author of Sails and Steam in the Mountains: A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain, Chronicles of Lake George, Chronicles of Lake Champlain, Empires in the Mountains: French and Indian War Campaigns and Forts in the Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River Corridor, and the editor of Life on a Canal Boat: The Journals of Theodore Bartley 1861-1889. Dr. Bellico has also written more than two dozen magazine articles on maritime history and has spent four decades researching the history of the two lakes and photographing historic wrecks.
9780935796629
Paperback
416 pages
7 x 10 inches
Contains Illustrations