TICONDEROGA — Fort Ticonderoga was recently awarded a $10,000 Forrest E. Mars Jr. Chocolate History grant that will contribute to the development of a new interactive living history program recreating the chocolate sellers of the civilian market at Ticonderoga in 1776 in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.
The grant was awarded at the Annual Heritage Chocolate Society meeting held in Washington, D.C., Feb. 19.
In four unique REAL TIME REVOLUTION events that chronicle the labor that led to liberty as it unfolded at Ticonderoga, skilled living history staff will invite visitors to the market of 1776, exactly where it stood 250 years ago, on the man-made slope surrounding Fort Ticonderoga. As visitors explore four distinct chapters of the fight to secure independence, they will make connections to the networks of colonial trade that brought chocolate to the American colonies before the war.
Through the tropical origins of chocolate and other commodities, visitors will explore the covert commerce of American privateers running through the British blockade to continue lines of trade. Skilled costume educators will connect chocolate with these Revolutionary War themes while bringing to life crucial moments 250 years ago through REAL TIME REVOLUTION.
“Fort Ticonderoga is profoundly grateful to Mars and American Heritage Chocolate for this timely grant as we mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution,” Fort Ticonderoga President and CEO Beth Hill said in a press release. “Through our REAL TIME REVOLUTION programs, this support allows us to move beyond the battlefield and immerse our visitors in the complex global networks of 1776. By recreating the civilian market exactly where it stood two and a half centuries ago, we are able to bridge the gap between the past and present, connecting the history of chocolate to the very struggle for independence.”