PRESS RELEASE: July 21, 2009
Contact: Teresa Mitchell, Great Lakes Seaway Trail, 315-646-1000
Rev. George A. Reed, 315-216-4266
Tales of Cannibalism, Daring Battles & Sieges, Rum becoming River Water: Author Shares 250 Years of Fort Ontario History August 6 at Seaway Trail Center
Sackets Harbor, NY – Cannibalism? Daring battles and sieges? Rum becoming river water? All a part of Fort Ontario history? Yes, says author Rev. George A. Reed, who will share his enthusiasm for the history of Fort Ontario at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY, on Thursday, August 6, at 6pm. Reed is the author of Fort Ontario: 250 Years of History. His program is part of the 2009 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Experience Series.
“My research includes an overview of all the eras at Fort Ontario from the French and Indian War through World War II. There are tales of cannibalism that always make 4th graders eyes get big. Descriptions of daring battles and sieges at the fort, and stories of how rum turned into river water,” Reed says.
Fort Ontario is easily reached by driving on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway that parallels the freshwater shoreline of the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, the Niagara
River and Lake Erie.
Reed says cannibalism is indeed part of the Fort’s history, but he has debunked a bit of other folklore associated with the historic, star-shaped fort that overlooks Oswego Harbor and Lake Ontario.
A lifelong historian, Reed worked with the National Park Service at the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in Washington, DC. He managed the North Creek Depot historic site near Gore Mountain where Vice-President Teddy Roosevelt learned that U.S. President McKinley had been shot, and served as executive director of the Pratt House Museum in Fulton, NY.
While volunteering with the Fort Ontario Guard at the State Historic Site in Oswego, NY, Reed realized that no one had ever written a comprehensive text on the history of the fort. Reed will sign copies of his new book Fort Ontario: 250 Years of History as part of the August 6 program at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center. Program admission benefits the nonprofit Great Lakes Seaway Trail Foundation. Discount applies to active and retired members of the military.
National Grid, Key Bank Foundation, Town of Hounsfield, New York State Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Seaway Trail Foundation, volunteers, and the Dive the Seaway Trail Project are sponsors of the 2009 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Experience Series. For more information on the Great Lake Seaway Trail byway that is one of America’s Byways and a National Recreation Trail, visit www.seawaytrail.com or call 315-646-1000. # # #