This is a sketch of cannons on the upper deck of a fort.

Heritage Sites

The places highlighted here — formerly called the Civil War Discovery Trail — are not just any places. They are the celebrated sites and structures that bring the earliest chapters of the American story to life, such as battlefields, historic homes, stations on the Underground Railroad, cemeteries, and parks. Together, they constitute the essential stops on a trail to discovering not only America’s military history, but the political, social and human dimensions of the founding and forging of the United States.

Benjamin Thompson
Rev War  |  Birthplace

Benjamin Thompson House

Born here on March 26, 1753, Benjamin Thompson Jr. was a loyalist who worked as a spy for British intelligence, leaving the U.S. in 1783. He would be...
Lincoln Depot
Civil War  |  Historic Site

Lincoln Depot

Formerly known as the Great Western Depot, President-elect Abraham Lincoln left from this station on February 11, 1863, to be inaugurated. He gave an...
Mount Independence
Rev War  |  Historic Site

Mount Independence

Across Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, this site was originally called East Point or Rattlesnake Hill until the Declaration of Independence was...
Monument to the Privateers of Chestnut Neck
Rev War  |  Historic Site

Chestnut Neck

In late September 1778, British Commander General Henry Clinton, frustrated by the havoc American privateers were wreaking on British supply lines...