Lakes to Locks Passage

Fort Ann stands at Halfway Brook on an Indian path linking the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. Between 1690 and 1760, European armies used this route and built nearby fortifications during the four French and Indian wars, and the fort erected in Queen Anne's War gave the place its name. In 1777, American rebels fought at the Battle of Fort Anne, then retreated before Burgoyne's invading army, felling trees to block the road south and delaying the British advance long enough for Colonial forces to make a successful stand at Saratoga. After wartime gave way to settlement, the area's nearly level ground made it a favored canal route between Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, and when the Champlain Canal opened in 1823 Fort Ann became an inland port. In the decades before the Civil War, the canal also served fugitive slaves, and the Wray Farm, the Old Stone House Library, and a cave at Kane's Falls are associated with the Underground Railroad. The town extends west to Lake George's eastern shore, where iron ore deposits supported local industry.

Fort Ann, New York · United States