America celebrates its 250th birthday this year on the Fourth of July.
And according to a new ranking, one of the best ways to commemorate the nation’s birth is with a stroll through the historic Upstate New York battlefield where the American Revolution took a pivotal step toward victory.
The Saratoga National Historical Park has been named one of eight “must-see” American Revolution landmarks by USA Today’s 10Best. In particular, 10Best crowned the Capital Region park America’s best battlefield walk.
The list of must-visit spots included one other historical Upstate spot: Fort Ticonderoga in the Adirondacks.
The Saratoga National Historical Park consists of about 3,400 acres, about 11 miles east of Saratoga Springs.
The national park is made up of three sites: the 3,000-acre Battlefield in Stillwater; General Schuyler House in Schuylerville, about 8 miles north of the Battlefield; and the towering Saratoga Monument, less than 1 mile west of Schuyler House.
Two important victories in America’s battle for independence from Britain occurred on the Saratoga Battlefield in the fall of 1777, when American soldiers forced the British to surrender.
According to 10Best, the Saratoga National Historical Park preserves the spot where “the crucial moments in determining the outcome of the American Revolutionary War” took place.
The Saratoga park is full of treasures to explore, from cannons perched over Bemis Heights, the ridge overlooking the Hudson River Valley, to the John Neilson Farmhouse, the tidy, red one-room home that served as a headquarters building for the American army.
In its ranking, 10Best noted the many ways visitors can experience the battlefield, from a 10-mile driving tour supplemented by audio and interpretive signs to hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.
The national park, where costumed reenactors sometimes fire muskets and bring the Revolutionary War to life, preserves other important sites. That includes the place where the British surrendered; the estate owned by Philip Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law; and the 155-foot stone obelisk erected to commemorate America’s key victories.
Fort Ticonderoga, one of the other “must-visit” American Revolution landmarks included on 10Best’s list, is about 70 miles north of the Saratoga National Historical Park.
Built in the 1750s, the star-shaped fort on the shore of Lake Champlain made history as the location of the Continental Army’s first victory when the fort was captured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen in 1775.
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