The 20th Annual Summer Gala at Fort Ticonderoga

On Saturday, August 7, 2021, the 20^th Annual Summer Gala and grand opening of the restored National Historic Landmark Pavilion at Fort Ticonderoga, in Ticonderoga, NY, was held. The Annual Summer Gala is a benefit to support the preservation and educational programs at Fort Ticonderoga. Garden Conservancy Director of Preservation Pamela Governale attended the event.

Nearly 200 years ago, the Pell Family purchased the crumbling Fort Ticonderoga, which played a critical role in American history; the fort was the site of the first Colonial victory in the Revolutionary War, won when Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led a raid seizing it from the British in 1775. Stephen Pell, whose grandson Tony Pell still serves on the board of the nonprofit organization, opened the fort’s doors to the public in 1909 after leading an extensive renovation of the landmark. Though it was remote, it was one of a handful of historic sites in the nation to be so preserved at the time, and among the first to become a tourist attraction.

King's Garden at Fort Ticonderoga is a Colonial Revival garden inspired by eighteenth-century military gardens. Around 1920, landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin
(1876 - 1957) was commissioned to design a new garden plan. In 1993, the Garden Conservancy hosted a design charette at the garden to plan its restoration and, the following year, commissioned a cultural landscape report. Through the 1990s, the Conservancy continued to advise and to provide letters of support for grants to help fund the restoration. In 1995, the gardens were restored and later opened for public visitation.

Learn more about Fort Ticonderoga and King's Garden.