GLIN==> Press release: New French & Indian War book invites travelers to follow Great Lakes byway et al

Press Release: July 1, 2009
Contact: Teresa Mitchell, Great Lakes Seaway Trail, 315-646-1000
See Backgrounder online at www.seawaytrail.com, click in French & Indian War
block on home page
 
New French & Indian War Book Invites Travelers to Follow Great Lakes Byway
et al

Sackets Harbor, NY -- A new guidebook to 19 French and Indian War historic
sites invites travelers to follow three state and nationally-designated
byways to forts, battlegrounds and freshwater destinations in New York and
Pennsylvania. The Great Lakes Seaway Trail has published Waterways of War:
The Struggle for Empire 1754-1763, A Traveler¹s Guide to the French & Indian
War Forts and Battlefields along America¹s Byways in New York and
Pennsylvania.
 
³Travel and history are great natural tourism partners. This new guidebook
to the French and Indian War is a result of the first collaboration of New
York¹s three federally designated byways and provides travelers with a
wonderful vehicle for exploring New York¹s history and our waterfronts,²
says New York State Assemblyman Steven Englebright, chair of the Assembly
Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts & Sports.
 
The swift waterways and footpaths of power along the St. Lawrence River,
Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania
helped decide the outcome of the French & Indian War. George Washington
started the clash of empires in the wilds of western Pennsylvania. A peace
treaty 10 years later ended French claims in the North American interior.
Other larger-than-life figures from colonial history involved in the war
include Robert Rogers, Sir William Johnson, Chief Hendrick, Joseph Brant,
General Montcalm and others, and out of this conflict came the American
ballad ³Yankee Doodle.²
 
³New York¹s state and nationally designated scenic byways are not just
roads, but roads with exciting and significant stories to tell, and the
Great Lakes Seaway Trail has partnered with the Revolutionary Byway and
Lakes to Locks Passage to present the fascinating, it-only-happened-here
story of the French and Indian War battles that took place along our
freshwaters. Traveling these routes to our historic sites is a win-win
arrangement for travelers, the host byway communities and New York State¹s
economy,² says New York State Department of Transportation Scenic Byways
Program Coordinator Mark Woods.
 
³Leisurely wandering along the byways offer its own refreshing experience of
the freshwater coastline environments that influenced victory and defeat in
the struggles to establish an empire on the rugged North American
continent,² says Great Lakes Seaway Trail President and CEO Teresa Mitchell.
 
Lakes to Locks Passage Executive Director Janet Kennedy says, ³A journey
along the three byways offers an authentic American experience of the
landscapes of history, well-kept military architecture, battlefields and
waterfront staging areas.²
 
Rachel Bliven with the Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor Commission says, ³The
byways offers a unique way to experience history by traveling roads that
were once the footpaths and horse trails into battle and now lead to our
historic sites. The Mohawk River-Oneida Lake-Oswego route has been used
since prehistoric times for travelers moving between the Great Lakes and the
Hudson River. The modern highways of the Revolutionary Byway follow this
same ancient trail across the heart of New York State.²
 
NYS French & Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission Vice
Chair Nicholas Westbrook says, ³This guidebook tells a multi-cultural story
about the birth of nations: the United States, Canada, Britain, France, and
numerous native nations. This is an international story, not merely a local
or regional one. The French and Indian War was a world war and here along
the byways is where history in your own backyard dramatically becomes world
history.²
 
The 60-page, full-color, coffee table-style guidebook will be available at
historic sites, reenactment events, and bookstores and online at
www.seawaytrail.com.
 
The book will be available at the July 3-5, 2009 re-creation of the July
1759 siege at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, NY. More than 2,700 historic
re-enactors are expected for the 2009 New York State 250th French and Indian
War Anniversary Commemoration Commission¹s 2009 ³Signature Event.²
 
Also look for the ³Waterways of War² guidebook at the July 18-19, 2009
Founder¹s Day Celebration in Ogdensburg, NY. In 2010, Ogdensburg will host
the final 250th French and Indian War Anniversary Commemoration Commission
³Signature Event.² 

Call 1-800-SEAWAY-T for more information. # # #


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