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Veterans and active US military members admitted free
At Old Fort Niagara’s “Patriots’ Day Weekend” event on April 27-28, visitors will experience living-history fun while learning about the American Revolution and how it started on the battlefields of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.
Staff, volunteers and visiting reenacting units will present musket-firing demonstrations, uniform programs and 18th century military drills, and recruit visitors to “enlist” in the British or American armies. Activities will happen indoors and out, and tours of the fort will be offered each hour.
“Everyone is eager to be outside as spring warms up, including reenactors who are ready to meet visitors and share their American Revolution knowledge,” said Robert Emerson, executive director of the Old Fort Niagara Association. “ ‘Patriots’ Day Weekend’ is a fun experience for visitors of all ages and gets the reenactment season underway.”
Volunteer reenactors from Hoisington's New York Rangers sponsor this annual event with the help of Brant's Volunteers, 64th Regiment of Foot, and Fort McIntosh Garrison reenactment units. In addition, Old Fort Niagara’s interpreters and volunteers will participate. Reenactors will portray colonial rebels, colonial Loyalist and British Redcoats and present the following schedule both days:
Daily admission to ‘Patriots’ Day Weekend’ is $13 for adults, $9 for children ages 6-12, free for children ages 5 and under, and free for Old Fort Niagara Association members. Veterans and active military service people will be admitted free with proper ID.
About Patriots’ Day
Patriots’ Day is a civic holiday that is observed in some New England states on the third Monday of April. It was established in the late 1890s to commemorate the April 19, 1775, battles of Lexington and Concord that officially began the American Revolution.
Here, on the Niagara Frontier, those first musket shots of war were not heard, but the results of that conflict came to define the Niagara River border shared with Canada. The 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the American Revolution, established borders, including the one locally, between the newly established United States of America and the British colony now known as Canada.
Upcoming Events
Old Fort Niagara's reenactment season continues with regular events through the summer.
Old Fort Niagara (www.oldfortniagara.org) is a Registered National Historic Landmark and New York State Historic Site operated by the Old Fort Niagara Association, a not-for-profit organization, in cooperation with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The site is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the last tickets sold at 4:30 p.m.