Ticonderoga is a small town with an outsized place in American history. The fort stands on a rocky point where Lake Champlain narrows, controlling the water route between Canada and the Hudson, and whoever held it held the door to the north. The French built it in the 1750s and called it Carillon, the British took it a few years later, and in May 1775, at the start of the Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, with Benedict Arnold, surprised the sleeping British garrison and captured it without a shot. The cannon taken from the fort were dragged by sled across the snow to Boston the following winter, and they helped force the British out of the city. The fort has been restored and holds regular demonstrations.
The town itself is a calm place, of about three thousand people, with a pleasant main street and the old Ticonderoga pencil factory a part of local lore. A small ferry crosses Lake Champlain to Vermont, running in the warmer months, and it is a fine way to see the lake from the water. Mount Defiance, a short drive away, gives a view over the fort and the surrounding lake, and the British used it to force the Americans to abandon the fort in 1777.
The road here, Route 9N and the lakeside roads, runs through gentle country of farms and woods, with the lake appearing now and then through the trees. It is an easy ride, with good surfaces and moderate traffic, and it makes a pleasing end to a journey from Waterford. Autumn is the best time, when the maples are gold and the lake is steely blue, though summer evenings are lovely too. The wind can be sharp off the water in spring and autumn.
Fuel and supermarkets are in town, along with a few diners and cafes, and across the lake, Vermont's villages offer more choices. Take your time at the fort, which deserves an hour or two, and have lunch at one of the town's cafes. If you have the energy, watch the sun go down over the lake, and think of the soldiers who fought and died here.