Saratoga Surrender Site: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Saratoga National Historical Park
Killion JT, Gunther E, Little K. 2022. Saratoga Surrender Site: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Saratoga National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 976224. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Saratoga Surrender Site is located in the Town of Saratoga, New York, approximately 35 miles north of Albany. During the Revolutionary War Battles of Saratoga in 1777, the Saratoga Surrender Area served as an avenue of approach and retreat, and on the morning of October 17, the Saratoga Surrender Site served as the formal ceremonial location of British General John Burgoyne’s surrender to American General Horatio Gates. The site is part of Saratoga National Historical Park (NHP), established in 1938 to preserve and protect sites associated with the battles, siege, and surrender of British forces at Saratoga, which were decisive events in winning American independence. The park interprets the sites, events, and people associated with the 1777 military campaign in the Champlain-Hudson and Mohawk valleys (the Burgoyne Campaign). The one-acre Saratoga Surrender Site project area preserves what is traditionally understood as the location of the ceremony where the defeated Burgoyne relinquished his sword to Gates. A nineteenth-century farmhouse that later stood at this historic place has been replaced with a memorial overlook completed in 2019 through a collaborative partnership headed by the Friends of Saratoga Battlefield. The space’s contemporary design is organized along an oval-shaped sidewalk that focuses on the Saratoga Surrender Monument, which overlooks the Hudson River to the east. The stone edifice features a bronze, bas-relief of the famous John Trumbull painting that hangs in the US Capitol Rotunda, “Surrender of General Burgoyne.” Other plaques include quotes from the battle and surrender ceremony. The overlook also includes a dedication monument, stone seat walls, reproduction cannons, an interpretive kiosk, and a small parking lot. The grounds are landscaped with trees, shrubs, and lawns. The site also includes a historic marker dating to 1877-1910 and a former driveway that may be the trace of the historic Road to Albany. The Saratoga Surrender Site is within a nineteen acre parcel owned by the Open Space Institute. The site’s visitor amenities and landscape improvements were donated to the NPS in 2021. An easement gives the NPS access to the parcel, and management responsibilities of the memorial overlook.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Killion, Jeffrey; Gunther, Elizabeth; Little, Kelsey
- Date of Issue
- 2022-09-15
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- NER , SARA
- Keywords
- Battle Site, Commemoration., Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Germain Property, Historic Preservation Movement, Historic Site, Leisure-Passive (Park), Military, Monument (Marker, Plaque), Saratoga Surrender Site, Secondary Structure (Garage), Shaping the Political Landscape, Single Family Dwelling, Social and Humanitarian Movements, Sword Surrender Site, The American Revolution, View, War in the North