Maury Thompson special for Post-Star
Development of the new Dr. Joseph Warren Visitors House Museum in Queensbury is proceeding with the goal of opening in 2026, when the region and nation celebrate the 250th anniversary, or half-century, of independence from Britain.
“That’s the plan,” said Teri Podnorzki Rogers, executive director of the Warren County Historical Society.
The region, due to its significant Revolutionary War history, is expected to see a boom in cultural heritage tourism that year.
A new state commission will work with historic sites and municipalities to plan a multi-year 250th anniversary celebration and accept federal funding to deliver further projects by 2026.
Rogers said the new Joseph Warren Museum, at the county’s Gurney Lane campus, will add another attraction to the region’s mix of Revolutionary War history sites.
It is to be developed into a vacant home next to the Warren County Historical Society Headquarters building, previously rented to the county
Warren County was named in 1813 after Boston area physician Joseph Warren, who was an assistant leader at the start of the American Revolution and was killed in battle at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
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The planned museum would be what Warren’s 18th-century home in Roxbury, Mass., would have looked like today if it had been preserved.
The museum will display artifacts, paintings, and memorabilia, including those from the collection of Shane Newell, a former Warrensburg resident who wrote the book “Joseph Warren and the Boston Uprising.”
It will include a small theater for educational programs and an outdoor dispensary garden connecting it to the Historical Society building.
Over the past year, the Historical Society, in collaboration with Newell, has secured the support of the Warren County Board of Supervisors for the concept, established a steering committee, and hired Labella Associates of Rochester, a firm which specializes in historical preservation.
In 2022, the Historical Society will begin soliciting grants, Rogers said.
Some of the historic sites are already holding lectures and showing exhibits to begin a multi-year thrust until 2026, when a regional celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Revolutionary War sites in the region has been followed by national propaganda since 2002. is expected to have the greatest concentration of The Battle of Saratoga is considered a turning point in the Revolutionary War.
“We are really at the beginning of it all,” said Sean Kelleher, vice president of the Saratoga County History Center in Schuylerville, which held a kick-off series of public lectures this fall.
Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts is leading a commission that plans 250th anniversary events across the county.
Fort Ticonderoga opened a new two-year exhibit last summer about the civilian militia’s role in the American Revolution.
The exhibition, “A Well-Regulated Militia: Citizens, Soldiers and the State,” continues for the 2022 season.
The fort management is planning a series of events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the development of the Revolutionary War in “real time” from 2024 to 2027.
Beth Hill, president and chief executive officer of Fort Ticonderoga, said facility improvements are also in the works and will be announced in the coming months.
“Fort Ticonderoga’s 250th plans include major capital initiatives, programmatic development, and educational outreach,” Hill explained.
In June, the state Senate and Assembly unanimously established a 13-member state commission to plan a statewide 250th anniversary celebration and accept federal funding to assist municipalities and historic sites with programs and development. passed the law.
As soon as Gov. Kathy Hochul unanimously passed the Senate and Assembly, Legislative Assembly sponsor Carrie Worner, D-Round Lake, said that members would be appointed to the commission.
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