Fort Stanwix National Monument
We took a road trip through MA and NY to Niagara Falls and along our journey visited all of the parks within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. One of these stops was at Fort Stanwix National Monument.
To be honest, we did not know much about this park heading in to it but the amazingly informative Park Ranger at the visitor center filled us in on the history and importance of this park. This fort was built in a primary location between two rivers which blocked water travel through this area and managed to help the Americans hold their ground in the Revolutionary War.
The most interesting part of this park for me, is how the park actually came to be. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that Rome, NY was able to donate this land to the Park Service, as this location had been built up over the years and neighborhoods were now located on the property. We learned that the government did not take any land through Emient Domain to created this monument. They had to work with the citizens to have the land donated, modern structures removed, and then they were able to bring in archaeologists to uncover what might be left of the Fort.
