Environmental agencies choose a preferred Lake George resting place
Remains of Revolutionary War soldiers uncovered in recent years may receive a formal burial site in the coming years. The state Department of Environmental Conservation proposed reinterment at the Lake George Battlefield State Park. The project would require an amendment to the site’s Unit Management Plan.
Charles Vandrei, historic preservation officer for the DEC, presented the plan to the Adirondack Park Agency at the APA’s Thursday meeting. Vandrei and volunteers helped recover the remains for more than a year, which likely came from soldiers and their families.
Most of the remains, which came from a total of 44 people, are from men, he said. Some are from women and at least one child.
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Members of the Lake George community showed interest and support for the project, Vandrei said.
The proposed resting place would include freestanding vaults, a stone sitting wall, information signs, benches and walkways. Tree-cutting and excavation are unneeded, Vandrei said.
The initial discovery happened during digging for a basement at a triplex apartment building in February 2019. Artifacts found include regimental coat buttons from the First Pennsylvania Battalion that invaded Canada in 1776. A smallpox outbreak from the period may have caused some of the deaths, he said.
The burial ground is not the first to be discovered in Lake George.
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In years past 18th-century human remains were discovered in the area, once when the village was installing a water main. The Lake George Battlefield State Park already holds the remains of four soldiers from 1755.
Vandrei said the DEC is doing DNA and isotope analyses to determine more about the people whose bones were discovered.
“We’re going to hopefully learn at least a little bit about these folks,” he said.
The DEC and APA are accepting comments on the proposed project until Feb. 19.
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The agency board voted to set the comment period. It accepted an environmental impact statement from the State Land Committee on proposed changes to the 2023-24 State Land Classification package. The documents later will be sent to the governor for approval.
I’m m trying to figure out why the development of the apartments didn’t stop when they found out they were digging on a burial site?? Those bodies shouldn’t have been moved!!
The NEED FOR HOUSING and money means more today than history in a country that the average American citizen cannot tell you we were in Afghanistan for 20+years when Vietnam Korea, WW1, WW2 occurred and less than 1% of the population will ever serve in the US ARMED FORCES
The state should not be in the business of building houses. Especially if it with tax payers money
“Hallowed ground” what is this strange term?
I am flabbergasted that the need for more summer homes is more important than the poor souls that died before their time, and all of their earthly belongings that they brought to the grave is someone else’s treasures. We know what happened back then, we really don’t need to ransack their graves. Leave the resting to rest. Those that died could have been our ancestors! Find somewhere else to waste your millions.
Yes it has become a paradox for those of us in this time in history which we are confronted with the moral obligation of a just war, civil rights, personal service (which is a person’s choice), remembrance. But consider at that time, the remains were buried in ‘the frontier unmarked, unknown.’ So yes the need for tax based revenue is complex to provide modernized services that have become essential in our society to meet the needs of the population. But consider the same obligation to protect remains of these souls in a dignified interment recognizing the roots of a nation defined by Providence which institutionalized democracy governed by The People and no king of this earth. Procede with dignity and if not a recognized place of final rest where they’re patriot contributions won’t be forgotten. I don’t condone any exploits for profit as the U.S. Government has done to the American Indian. So let’s put our heads together for a plan and follow our own heart. Bring them to Lake George Battlefield Park and allow any visitors, campers, picnics, a simple stroll on the grounds remind us. Peace be with you.