The Expedition to Ticonderoga
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![Muskets firing]()
Enter to win
Welcome Traveler! Visit at least one historic site during the Expedition to Ticonderoga and ENTER TO WIN! Simply take a picture of the brochure with at least one site visited, or take a selfie at any historical site and email bennington250@gmail.com to be entered to win a gift basket with Vermont history related gifts. Need a brochure? DOWNLOAD it here!
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![Fort Ticonderoga]()
The Expedition overview-May 3-4
Saturday, May 3 – A Day Full of History and Fun Kick off your Saturday with a Liberty Pole flag-raising at 10 AM at the Pownal Town Offices, then embark on a full day of activities stretching from Pownal to Shaftsbury. Highlights include the Southern Vermont HomeBrew Festival, re-enactments, musket drills, live demonstrations, info tables, and special 250th anniversary merchandise. At 4 PM, witness a skirmish at the historic Jonas Galusha House in Shaftsbury.
Sunday, May 4 – Northshire Celebrates the Green Mountain Boys The festivities continue in the Northshire! Explore the historic towns of Arlington, Sunderland, Manchester, and Dorset while taking part in guided tours, engaging talks, musket salutes, and a special ceremony in Pawlet, marking the passing of a ceremonial powder horn. This horn symbolizes the famous capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys in 1775.
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![Re-enactor in colonial garb leads children in muster exercise]()
4th grade field trip-May 1st and 2nd-
On Thursday and Friday, this educational project will involve approximately 215 4th-grade students from Bennington County in a guided 2-hour field trip to various sites in Old Bennington on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the mobilization of the Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen at the Catamount Tavern before they set out to capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British in May, 1775. In small groups on a staggered schedule, students will visit the Bennington Museum, the Bennington Centre Cemetery, the Old First Church, the site of Ethan Allen’s house, the Catamount Tavern monument, where they will witness the arrival of Capt. Edward Mott from Connecticut with a plan in his pocket and some orders for Allen, then up the hill to the Monument, with elevator rides to the observation deck, and games such as hoop rolling on the Monument lawn before boarding buses.
Saturday
Pownal Town Offices
Located off Route 7, No. Pownal Rd. to 511 Center St
10 am to 11 am
Liberty Pole flag raising and ceremony with re-enactors, musket salute, and historical exhibits.
Make sure to arrive before 10:30! There will be some 18th century period food and some modern coffee refreshments; visit the Town Hall and watch the slide show which is on a loop. A fiddler will be playing outside at the food table from 10:30-11 am. Then at 11 everyone will gather in front of the church for a 10 minutes reenactment, with "Josiah Dunning" jumping up on a stump and exhorting participation, along with costumed participants in the crowd responding in a back and forth. Then we'll have the dedication of the Liberty Pole and raising of the commemorative flag. There will be a reading the governor's resolution and a musket salute.
Old First Church
60 Monument Ave
10 am to 2 pm
Old First church Tour.
Jonas Galusha House
3871 Route 7A.
11 am to 5 pm
featuring tours, games and activities, crafts, campfire cooking, re-enactor encampment, 18th century medicine, musket demonstrations & drills. Informational tables, 250th merchandise. Large muster or skirmish at 4 pm.
Galusha House SCHEDULE:
11:00 -5:00: Grateful Harvest Food Truck is available from 11:00 until all food has been sold.
Starting at 11:30 Whitcombs' Rangers will showcase a musket salute every half-hour
11:40 - 12:40 Campfire Cooking by Whitcomb's Rangers
12:45 - Liberty Pole Ceremony
Speech by Jon TenEyke; that Dutch farmer from Pownal
1:00 - Sing-a-long with John Davies
1:30-2:30 18th Century Medicine presentation with Phyllis Chapman
4:00- Closing: Muster/skirmish (if numbers allow)
Bennington Museum
75 Main St.
10 am to 4 pm
Battle of Bennington Gallery. Admission charged
Bike the Route!
Group ride through The Shires region from Pownal to Shaftsbury
Bike Route Map:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/50205196
Email to sign up!
So. VT Homebrew Festival
located at the Tuttle Lot (113 Depot Street) Bennington, VT.
12 pm to 4 pm
Admission charged. $5 off use promo code: Bennington250
Sunday
Dellwood Cemetery
2950 Main St.
Noon
Fighting Roberts Family talk at the final resting place of John Roberts & son, musket salute.
Ira Allen House
6311 Route 7A
10 am to 2 pm
The Ira Allen House in Sunderland, where Ira and Ethan Allen both lived. Tours of the house and a local historian will discuss town history from 10 am to noon.
Dorset Historical Society
30 Kent Hill Rd.
3 pm
Open house.
Pawlet Historical Society
Pawlet Town Hall and Green Located at 122 School Street just off route 30.
5 pm.
We will begin with the ceremonial receipt of the powder horn from Dorset to a descendant of Green Mountain Boy and Herrick Ranger, Col. Samuel Herrick. This will be followed by brief remarks and a parade of community members around the Town Green, all dressed in the Green Mountain Boys uniforms originally sewn and worn during the 1976 celebration. The ceremony will culminate with the handoff of the powder horn to a descendant of Green Mountain Boy George Foote. Additionally, a self-serve information table/passport station will be available throughout the afternoon for attendees.
Manchester’s Marsh Tavern
Equinox Resort, 3567 Main St
1 pm
A witness to history talk, proclamation reading, info tables, musket salute.
Run the Route!
Corner of Route 7A and 313 West
2 pm
We will run to sites B,C,D and E which is approximately 3.5 miles. (disclaimer participation is at your own risk!)
please contact Darazink@gmail.com with any questions about the run
Revolutionary War Era Geocache Sites
Arlington B site
Corner of Routes 7A and 313 west
Latitude 43.0747571, Longitude -73.1538254
Stocks and Public Notice Site (Liberty Pole)
Deming House
Elnathan Merwin Tavern site
St. James Graveyard
Sunderland E site
Capt. Simeon Hicks Burial Site, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery
173 Kansas Road
Latitude 43.0580891, Longitude -73.1349417
History quest
Saturday and Sunday
Find the historical locations to discover our local history! Serval stamp locations await your discovery
Enter the GPS locations in your navigation software
Arlington C site
Corner of East Arlington Road and Chittenden Drive 235 East Arlington Road,
Latitude 43.0697231, Longitude -73.1535911
Gov. Chittenden/Capt. Jehiel Hawley site
Ethan Allen House Site
State Seal Pine
Arlington D site
Remember Baker Historic Marker (219 Old Mill Road, Arlington, Vermont)
Latitude 43.0603587, Longitude -73.1411339
Remember Baker Mill and Home Site/Capt. Simeon Hicks Home
are you a Reenactor?
Events Leading Up to The Expedition
Monday April 28 - Hartford, CT
Please join us to Commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Expedition to Capture Fort Ticonderoga! 12:00 – 1 :00 PM at Connecticut’s Old State House, located at 800 Main St, Hartford, CT 06103 For more information, please visit their website!
May 1 - Pittsfield, MA
Join the BCHS and the Berkshire Museum to celebrate a revolutionary meeting! On May 1, 1775 a group met at Easton’s Tavern. Col. James Easton, John Brown of Pittsfield, and Captain Edward Mott of Preston, Connecticut planned the capture of Fort Ticonderoga which on May 10th surrendered to the Continental Volunteers under Ethan Allen with Col. Easton second in command.
Meet on Park Square at 4pm on May 1 to hear more about this historic event in the Berkshires. We will move to Patrick’s Pub for a pint of ale and more conversation afterwards. FREE. For more information, email lherzberg@berkshirehistory.org
This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States National Park Service (NPS) under assistance agreement (P24AC02271) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Funding for this project came from a 2025 grant from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership.
