Built by Americans early in the Revolutionary War, Fort Montgomery was captured and destroyed by the British in 1777, and except for a small gun battery constructed in 1779, it was not rebuilt. The site was acquired in 1910 as part of Bear Mountain State Park, and archaeological explorations since then have revealed the fort’s remains and yielded many artifacts that have deepened understanding of its history. In 1973, Fort Montgomery was designated a National Historic Landmark. Rather than reconstructing the fort, New York State Parks has preserved it as a ruin, where building foundations, earthworks, and the natural topography of the site remain above the Hudson River.