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 Photo of the Month

June 2002

Object ID:  1985.042.0007

Photographer:  Unknown

Date:  Unknown, probably ca. 1920

Several people in a large open touring car in front of Saratoga Monument in the Town of Saratoga.

The Saratoga Monument was first conceived in the middle of the nineteenth century.  An Association was formed in 1859 to raise funds to erect an obelisk, but the cornerstone was not laid until the centennial anniversary of the surrender of Burgoyne, October 17, 1877.  The monument stand on a hill overlooking the Village of Schuylerville, the Hudson River, on the site that Burgoyne had his intrenched camp.  The obelisk measures 155 feet in height and is a combination of an Egyptian obelisk with Gothic features on the lower sections.  It was designed by Jared C. Markham of New York City and erected at a cost of $105,000.  In 1919 the monument was still uncompleted and had already been struck by lightning twice.  

Brandow's 1919 description of the view from the top is worth quoting:  "Nowhere else can one obtain so extensive and gratifying a view from so slight an elevation.  At your feet lies the pretty village of Schuylerville, embowered in trees; just beyond flows the matchless Hudson, gleaming in the sun.  On every side within the radius of a few miles are scenes of Colonial and Revolutionary events, of surpassing historic interest."  Senator S.S. Cox is quoted in 1884 as stating, "But it is not because of the scenery - hill and dale, sparkling water, beauteous wood, ethereal vault of blue, and misty mountains of enchantment - that this locality allures and holds the vagrant vision.  This monument is the cynosure of patriotism."

The monument, after extensive repairs, has recently reopened.  It is administered by the National Park Service as a unit of Saratoga National Historical Park.

Sources consulted:

John Henry Brandow, The Story of Old Saratoga (Albany, NY:  The Brandlow Printing Company, 1919), pp. 378-383.

Gift of Clark Blair

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