Fort Ticonderoga and The Pavilion—1827
When James Pell died, John Howland Pell, a grandson, managed it for some time and later Howland Pell, a great-grandson, ran the property for a great many years. Howland always hoped that some member of the family would some day take it over and if it had not been for Howland it would have passed out of the family. Some people offered almost as much as the whole property was worth for fifty acres between the Fort and the West shore of the Lake. They wished to build a hotel, but he refused to sell.
Towards the end of the century, Stephen Pell, a little boy of eight and his brother, Howland, were sent up to visit their grandmother who was spending the summer at Fort Ticonderoga at “The Pavilion” which was then rented as a hotel. Filled with self importance at being intrusted with tickets and money for such a long trip alone, the boys finally arrived at Fort Ticonderoga. It is not hard to imagine how the Fort at once captured their interest. Little boys of eight and ten have vivid imaginations and with a doting grandmother who told delightfully the old tales of capture and recapture, these imaginations soon ran riot. They were in turn Montcalm, Allen, Arnold, Burgoyne (always a successful officer). They ran up the hills and over the walls, demanding the surrender, or holding the fort. Thrill of thrills came one day when Stephen found the bronze flint box, containing a flint. It is typical of little boys that an argument resulted—Howland claiming that it was half his as he had dislodged the stone, under which it lay, as he climbed up the hill. It was a beautiful little box that had belonged to a man of means and of distinction. One can see them standing there after the first raptures of finding it were over, eyes shining, picturing the Fort in all its past glory, with the proud walls standing, the flags flying and men in bright uniforms on the parade grounds. The lives of men are swayed by seemingly unimportant things and in Stephen Pell’s life always there was the little flint box and the youthful dream. As he grew older the imagination became an obsession, and the obsession became reality as stone by stone, timber by timber, wall by wall, he repaired and restored the Fort until it stands the old Fort Ticonderoga, all built from a flint box, a little boy’s vivid imagination and a man’s hard work, research and intelligence.
SIR HENRY CLINTON’S DISPATCH.
THE SILVER BULLET.
THE SILVER BULLET
The famous silver bullet, carried by a messenger to General Burgoyne from Sir Henry Clinton. The bullet was hollow and concealed a message. The messenger, on being captured by American Troops, swallowed the bullet. He was given an emetic and forced to disgorge it. Later he was hanged as a spy. The bullet was preserved in the Tallmadge family and presented to the Fort Ticonderoga Museum by Henry O. Tallmadge, Esq.
The important contribution of the Pell family during a period approaching 150 years has been an appreciation of historical values and a sense of responsibility towards them. There has always been at least one member of the family who refused to allow any part of the property sold, who kept up the gardens and planted trees and who, above all, cherished and preserved the Fort.