SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y. — As part of Saratoga Siege Weekend, a grand opening was held for the “American Revolution Experience,” a national traveling exhibit that showcases diverse perspectives of common people in the lead-up to and during the United States War for Independence.

“We’re the epicenter where everything happened, this is the home team, the home field. You have to get involved in this because this is where everything starts,” Town of Saratoga Supervisor Ian Murray shared regarding events like the exhibit’s opening.

“I just feel very fortunate to be living in this town and then also being the supervisor to help guide this town in protecting the history. I feel very honored to be honest with you because when I went to school here, I didn’t realize it like growing up but everything happened back and forth, going from Fort Hardy to the battlefield and stuff like that, and it really starts to come home to you that it is on all the land that we farmed and we played on, and everything else like that.

“It’s just an honor, and that’s why you have to just get into the game and be part of it.”

The exhibit features 12 panels featuring stories leading up to the revolution, taken from primary source documentation and objects that were in the collection of the Daughters of the American Revolution. There are also kiosks here where visitors can find more information.

“It’s been a relatively easy process, with the whole point of this exhibit being that it travels around the nation and reaches as many places as possible,” Saratoga County Historian and Saratoga 250 Chair Lauren Roberts said. “They tried to make it as portable as possible, so you don’t need to have a whole team of people that can move things in and out, which is very nice.

“The more accessible the exhibit the better.”

The exhibit produced by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the American Battlefield Trust will be available for viewing within the America’s Turning Point Heritage Center, located in the same building as the Champlain Canal Region Gateway Visitor Center, 30 Ferry St. in Schuylerville through Oct. 27.

The event was one of many that went on during Saratoga Siege Weekend, which encouraged the community to experience the revolutionary history of the Saratoga region through demonstrations, historical encampments and immersive experiences spread out between five locations.

The location in which the exhibit opens is significant because while it is in Schuylerville it will reside in what is to be the home base of the Saratoga 250 team. According to Murray with the build-up to the 250th anniversary in 2027 and not having the space at the county, Murrary inquired to County Administrator Steve Bulger about setting something up in that space.

“It used to be the old town hall that was here, and then it was sold to the Hudson-Hoosic Partnership and they developed and built this post and beam building — but this downstairs was never utilized,” Murray explained. “We got a committee together, we started talking about it and we leased the space.

“This is going to be our home base for everything here. Which is great.”

There are hopes that this space can continue to host interactive community events, including potentially housing a county cannon. Roberts made note that several historically significant events took place off of the park service properties and this new space can serve as a venue to talk about that as well as house technology to aid in education efforts.

“We now have this space in Schuylerville and with our American Battlefield Protection Program grant money, we’re going to be able to have some really cool digital technology. We’re planning on a map projection table where people can come and take a look at the different stories we’re telling, choose which ones appeal to them, and it’ll actually send GPS to their phone, and then they can go out to the actual spaces where history happens.

“Having a home base, having an actual location, allows us to do lectures and workshops and things of that nature. You really need a space where people can come and gather. First of all to build ideas — we need to know what that schedule is going to look like, who are the players, who wants to be involved and how the community sees themselves in the 250th and so it gives us a place to do that, but also to be open to the public where they can come and hear these stories and learn about their history.”

It is Roberts’s hope, as well as that of the whole 250th commission, that things such as this new exhibit, siege weekend and other events in the same vein expose more people to the history right at their fingertips – especially with such a big milestone of history on the horizon.

“Sometimes, when you drive by the same streets you’ve seen the same signs over and over, you get a little jaded, but when you can properly get inspired by some new exhibit like this, and then go back out and revisit that spaces by the battlefield or the sign in the parking lot that you drove by a million times when you were getting coffee never really paid attention to,  that’s what we’re hoping, basically.

“I think getting feet on the ground here is one of the first steps.”