2 Best Sights in Rome, Albany and Central New York

In 1758, during the French and Indian Wars, the British built a fort here to protect the strategic Oneida Carrying Place—a 1-mi-long area between the Mohawk River and Oneida Lake where boats had to be carried. It was part of the route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. A path here allows you to walk part of the Oneida Carrying Place. The British eventually abandoned the fort, which the American rebels took over at the start of the Revolutionary War. The fort came under attack by British forces, Tories, and their Indian allies for three weeks in August 1777, but the rebels were able to fend off the siege. The structure you see today is a reconstruction of that fort, which suffered a major fire and destructive floods after the Revolution.

The August 6, 1777, battle fought here is said to have been one of the bloodiest conflicts of the American Revolution, and is viewed as key to later rebel victories. It involved Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer and the 800 men and 60 Oneida warriors he had assembled to march to the aid of the rebels at Fort Stanwix, which British forces had attacked. As Herkimer's group marched toward the fort, it was ambushed in a ravine by British forces, Tories, and their Seneca and Mohawk allies. The losses, heavy on both sides, caused the British side to retreat.