The Friends of Crown Point State Historic Site will host an unveiling ceremony May 13th for a monument commemorating the Crown Point cannon that Henry Knox hauled from Lake Champlain to Boston at the beginning of the American Revolution.

Re-enactors portraying the patriot Green Mountain Boys, under the command of Captain Seth Warner, will arrive to commemorate the May 11, 1775 liberation of 111 cannon from the few British soldiers posted at the fort. An outdoor reception of light refreshments, will follow, rain or shine and is free to the public.

This new monument at Crown Point State Historic Site will complete the 250 mile “Knox Cannon Trail” of 56 monuments, 30 in New York and 26 in Massachusetts, which was installed in 1927 to mark the journey of Colonel Henry Knox between December 5, 1775, and January 24, 1776. Under his command 59 cannon weighing almost 60 ton were hauled from Lake Champlain to Dorchester Heights where their presence convinced the British to end their blockade of Boston Harbor on March 17, 1776. Since the installation of the “Knox Cannon Trail” of monuments in 1927 research has shown that 29 of the 59 cannon used to liberate Boston came from Crown Point making it the actual starting point of the cannon trail. The installation of a monument at Crown Point will complete the “Knox Cannon Trail” and finally commemorate the role that Crown Point played in this significant Revolutionary War story.

The commemorative bronze plaque was made possible by the generosity of the New York State Organization, Daughters of the American Revolution and by a grant from Parks and Trails New York. Daughters of the American Revolution members will travel from throughout New York and Vermont to attend. The granite plinth has been donated by the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area as part of their ongoing efforts to restore the 1927 “Knox Cannon Trail” of monuments.

The ceremony will take place on the afternoon of Saturday, May 13th at 1 pm at the Crown Point State Historic Site museum building.

Crown Point State Historic Site preserves and interprets the ruins of the French Fort St. Frédéric (1734-1759) and the massive British fort of Crown Point (1759-1775). These fort ruins have been individually designated as “National Historic Landmarks” as they are evidence of the great struggle during most of the 18th century between Britain and France for dominance of North America. Crown Point State Historic Site is located at 21 Grandview Drive in Crown Point at the foot of the Lake Champlain Bridge. For more information call (518) 597-4666.

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees 180 state parks and 35 historic sites, which are visited by 60 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call (518) 474-0456 or visit their website

Photo: Crown Point Barracks, courtesy Crown Point State Historic Site.