New York to Toronto

August 15, 2009

Following about a week at home, I again set out. Herself and I had planned several days in Toronto; the plan was that I would drive and she would fly. I left on August 15, and drove to Crown Point, New York, only 15 miles or so from Ticonderoga, where I was recently.

Besides being on beautiful Lake Champlain, Crown Point is the site of more colonial history. It is the site of two ruined forts: Fort St. Frédéric, constructed by the French in the 1730s, and Fort Crown Point, built by the British in 1759, late in the French and Indian War. Neither fort was ever attacked militarily; both forts were largely destroyed by defenders before withdrawing from them before superior forces, although buildings in Fort Crown Point were destroyed by fire in 1773. The remains of both forts are now part of a New York state historical site, and there is an attached campground, where I spent the night. The area's first European explorer was Samuel de Champlain, who modestly named the lake for himself. On the tercentenary of his exploration, a lighthouse was erected at Crown Point to mark the occasion. It features a sculpture depicting Champlain and his native (probably Huron) guide, as well as a small bronze by Auguste Rodin, representing France.

The following day was spent in a somewhat leisurely drive across the center of the Adirondack Mountains to Watertown, and then north to Cape Vincent, where Horne's ferry took me to the Canadian Wolfe Island, and another took me to Kingston, Ontario. A drive along the Loyalist Highway (so named because the area was settled during and after the Revolution by colonists Loyal to the Crown) brought me to Carrying Place, Ontario, where I pitched my tent in a commercial campground otherwise full of RVs semi-permanently ensconced in their lots.

On the morning of August 17, I drove to the Toronto airport and picked Herself up, after which we made our way to the hotel in the city.