Special Events and Programs

October

History Caravan

Sunday, October 6
9:30 am
Meet in the Visitor Center

Looking for a more in-depth, hands-on experience during your visit? Join a Park Volunteer for a caravan-style tour of the Battlefield! Tours will last 2.5-3 hours. Meet in the Visitor Center and follow along in your own vehicle for as long as you like. May be cancelled in the event of inclement weather. If you would like to reserve your spot and be notified in case of the need to reschedule due to weather, contact sara_reservations@nps.gov.

Battle of Bemus Heights Walking Tour

Monday, October 7
1:00 pm
Tour Road Stop 5

Join Park Ranger Eric Schnitzer as he gives a guided tour of the fields where the Battle of Bemus Heights - the second battle of Saratoga - was fought on October 7, 1777. The battle was one of the most decisive American victories of the Revolutionary War and put an end to the British scheme to capture Albany. Major new information has reshaped our understanding of Benedict Arnold's role in the battle, and discussing his heroism in the fight will be a highlight of the tour. No sign-up required; those interested should meet at "The Tide Turns" parking lot (stop 5); the tour will last for about one hour.

Soldier Encampment at Saratoga Battlefield

Saturday, October 12
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Sunday, October 13
10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Battlefield Tour Road Stop 3 and Stop 6

The Redcoats are coming to Saratoga Battlefield! And so are the Continentals! Come to Saratoga National Historical Park and visit with the British Redcoats of his Majesty's 24th Regiment of Foot as they encamp at Freeman's Farm (Stop 6). Activities include soldiers drilling, posting guard, cooking, and sew clothing. The 2nd Continental Artillery will be at Bemus Heights (Stop 3) helping to keep the British from reclaiming Albany in the name of the king. Discover how cannons, the ultimate weapons of 18^th century warfare, worked and experience the excitement of seeing one fired!

Homefront at the Schuyler Estate

Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Schuyler House

Renowned blacksmith Jymm Hoffman will demonstrate 18th century techniques at the forge. Living Historian Anne Clothier will share the stories of Women in Healing from the time of the Battles of Saratoga. Living Historian Sara Evenson will discuss and demonstrate 18^th Century cooking techniques. The Saratoga County 250th Commission will be there with their tent full of fun activities for the whole family! And you can visit General Philip Schuyler’s home.

18^th Century Medicine

Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Visitor Center Lawn

Volunteer Joe Craig explains the Healing Arts at the time of the Revolutionary War.

Whitcomb’s Rangers Encampment

Saturday, October 12
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Sunday, October 13
10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Saratoga Monument

Whitcomb's Rangers, an independent company of Continental Army rangers who hailed from NH and VT, will be encamped at the Saratoga Monument. Meet some of the men whose unit helped trap the British here in Saratoga, leading to the first surrender of a British army in history.

Siege of Saratoga Walking Tour

Monday, October 14
2:00 pm
Meet at the Saratoga Monument

Discover the Siege of Saratoga. Following their defeat in the Battle of Bemus Heights, Burgoyne’s army struggled to retreat. They made it this far before being surrounded by superior American forces, beginning the short but unpleasant siege. Park Ranger Eric Schnitzer will lead a walking tour from the Saratoga Monument through part of Burgoyne’s camp. Bug spray is highly recommended!

Candlelight Tours

Wednesday, October 16
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Schuyler House

Experience the ambiance of an 18th Century house in the evening with a special candlelight tour through the Schuyler House! Visitors should be aware that the candlelight tours are low light and may make walking through the house challenging for some visitors. Capacity limits will be in effect for safety and protection of visitors and the historic resource. Reservations are required and are now being accepted only at Candlelight Tour reservations!

Saratoga Surrender Day

Thursday, October 17
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Saratoga Surrender Site

Visit with a park ranger to learn more about the surrender of General Burgoyne and his forces.

Fall Lecture Series
Inheriting the Revolution: Antebellum African American Pathways in Saratoga County

Thursday, October 24
6:30 pm
Visitor Center

How did the American Revolution affect African Americans in Old Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, and their environs? This talk is inspired by historian Joyce Appleby's focus on the first post-Revolutionary War generation and seeks to place Black people within that cohort. By focusing on a few individuals, it will highlight the major avenues they pursued in the early national period and in the years prior to the Civil War. Reservations are required. Email us to reserve your spot! Please include the date of the program you wish to attend.

Dr. Myra Armstead is the Lyford Paterson Edwards and Helen Gray Edwards Professor of Historical Studies Emerita at Bard College. She received her doctorate in History from the University of Chicago where she interned under the late Dr. John Hope Franklin and concentrated in three fields—U.S. urban history, U.S. diplomatic history, and African colonial history. She holds a Masters in International Relations with a concentration in African Affairs from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelors from Cornell University where she majored in Government. She has published widely on topics relating to African American social and cultural life, including the recently completed Historic Resource Study for Saratoga National Historical Park: Memory and Enslavement: Schuyler House, Old Saratoga, and the Saratoga Patent in History, Historical Practice, and Historical Imagination.

The Fall Lecture Series is presented with support from the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield.

Fall Lecture Series
Picturing History: A Primer for the Better Understanding of Fine Art during the Era of the American Revolution

Thursday, October 31
6:30 pm
Visitor Center

Although there are signs of change, historians have traditionally shown surprisingly little interest in the artworks related to their periods of study. This is not to say that artworks are ignored - history books are often replete with period pictures meant to showcase the themes discussed in print. Unfortunately, however, these artworks are often poorly chosen or are little more than an afterthought. Ranger Eric Schnitzer will explore the different forms of 2-dimentional 18th century artwork media, spur awareness of pitfalls, and investigate shocking deceptions related to Revolutionary War drawings and paintings. Reservations are required. Email us to reserve your spot! Please include the date of the program you wish to attend.

Eric Schnitzer is a park ranger at Saratoga National Historical Park.

The Fall Lecture Series is presented with support from the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield.

November

Fall Lecture Series
General Washington’s War Time Cooks

Thursday, November 7
6:30 pm
Visitor Center

Although there is only one “Washington’s Headquarters” in New York, there are numerous signs around the region stating, “Washington slept here.” Which means he also ate there. But typically, not food prepared by the household’s cook, but by his own staff, led by Hannah Till, an enslaved woman, and her husband Isaac. Who were they? What skills may they have had? Join us as we look at current research on Hannah & Isaac and ponder what it may have been like to travel and cook around the region for Washington. Reservations are required. Email us to reserve your spot! Please include the date of the program you wish to attend.

Speaker Lavada Nahon is a culinary historian with 30 years public history experience. She focuses on New Netherland and New York, 17th through 19th centuries, specifically, the lives and cultures of Africans and their descendants, enslaved and free. Lavada is also the first Interpreter of African American History for New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Bureau of Historic Sites. A position she has held for five years. She has worked for a wide variety of historic sites and organizations around the tri-state region, and is a noted and recently retired, hearth cook and teacher. Her mission is to bring history to life by giving presence to the Africans and people of African descent enslaved and free, in New Netherland and New York in whatever way possible.

The Fall Lecture Series is presented with support from the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield.

Veterans Day Commemoration and Family Fun Day

Saturday, November 9
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Visitor Center

Join us as we honor the veterans of our armed services! At 10:00 am, we will hold a ceremony honoring those who have served from the earliest American veterans in the Revolutionary War to today. This short ceremony will include speakers and a moment to remember those who are no longer with us.

Following the ceremony, representatives of veteran’s services, organizations, and local military units will be on hand to provide information and celebrate. Refreshments and family friendly activities will continue until 2:00 pm. Veterans can also pick up their free lifetime passes to federal public lands by bringing a veteran marked driver’s license or ID.

This program is presented in partnership with the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, Military order of the World Wars, Theodore Roosevelt Chapter (New York), and Friends of Saratoga Battlefield.

Fall Lecture Series
From the Battlefield to the Stage: The Many Lives of General John Burgoyne

Thursday, November 14
6:30 pm
Visitor Center

Norman S. Poser speaks on his recently published book, From the Battlefield to the Stage: The Many Lives of General John Burgoyne. Burgoyne is chiefly known to history for surrendering his army to the American forces at Saratoga in 1777, an event that turned out to be a turning point in the Revolutionary War. Both on and off the battlefield, Burgoyne led an action-packed life: as a young man, he eloped with the daughter of an English earl; a devotee of the theatre, he wrote plays that were successfully produced on the London stage; a Member of Parliament for thirty years, he fought corruption in India and advocated religious toleration; he was welcome in London’s elite gambling clubs and fashionable drawing rooms. One hundred years after Burgoyne’s death, the playwright George Bernard Shaw, impressed by his versatile talents and humane character, gave him the apt nickname of “Gentleman Johnny.” It has stuck. Reservations are required. Email us to reserve your spot! Please include the date of the program you wish to attend.

In addition to his biography of John Burgoyne, Norman S. Poser is the author of two other non-fiction books about eighteenth-century England: a biography of the great judge, Lord Mansfield; and a book about the London stage in the time of the actor and theatre manager David Garrick. A retired law professor, Poser lives with his wife, Judy Cohn, in New York City.

The Fall Lecture Series is presented with support from the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield.

Fall Lecture Series
The Compleat Victory: Leadership and Strategy in the Saratoga Campaign of 1777

Tuesday, November 19
6:30 pm
Visitor Center

In the late summer and fall of 1777, after two years of indecisive fighting, the outcome of the American War of Independence hung in the balance. Having successfully expelled the Americans from Canada in 1776, the British were determined to end the rebellion and devised what they believed a war-winning strategy: sending General John Burgoyne south to rout the Americans and take Albany.

When British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga on New York’s Lake Champlain with unexpected ease in July of 1777, it looked as if it was a matter of time before they would break the rebellion in the North. Less than three and a half months later, however, a combination of the Continental Army and militia forces commanded by Major General Horatio Gates and inspired by the heroics of Benedict Arnold, forced Burgoyne to surrender his entire army. The American victory at Saratoga—described by one Patriot general as "the Compleat Victory"—stunned the world and changed the course of the war. In the end, British plans were undone by a combination of faulty military strategy and superior American leadership. Weddle will discuss the two themes from one of the most pivotal events in US history. Reservations are required. Email us to reserve your spot! Please include the date of the program you wish to attend.

Colonel (Ret.) Kevin Weddle, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Fellow and the former Elihu Root Cahir of Military Studies at the U.S. Army War College. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served over 28 years as a combat engineer officer. Throughout his career he worked in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States and overseas including command of a combat engineer battalion, operations officer for a combat engineer group, and assignments at the Pentagon, West Point, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is also a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom.

He leads military and civilian groups on tours and staff rides of battlefields in the United States and Europe, including Gettysburg, Antietam, Normandy, Sicily, Anzio, Gallipoli, Waterloo, Agincourt, and others. In 2019, he served as the William L. Garwood visiting professor at Princeton University and has won several teaching awards.

Colonel Weddle holds master’s degrees in history and civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. He is the author of Lincoln’s Tragic Admiral: The Life of Samuel Francis Du Pont (University of Virginia Press, 2005), and appeared as an on-air expert in the 2020 History Channel documentary “Washington.” His second book, The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2021), was awarded the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History, the Society of the Cincinnati Prize, the Daughters of the American Revolution Excellence in American History Book Award, and the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award. He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with his wife, Jeanie.

The Fall Lecture Series is presented with support from the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield.