After a bone-tiring, but exciting, day watching thoroughbreds race in Saratoga Springs, plan a serene historic site visit for a change of pace.
Saratoga County is rich in history and offers a selection of restored historic homes and parks.
You can step back in time to the Revolutionary War era, when George Washington, Phillip Schuyler, Gen. John Burgoyne and others lived in the Saratoga area, or experience President Ulysses Grant's era following the Civil War. Nothing was recorded about General George Washington's having slept at the historic Philip Schuyler Summer House, but he may well have, according to National Park Service ranger Joe Craig, who gives tours at the site. The estate was the country home of Schuyler both before and after the battles of Saratoga. Schuyler retreated to Schuylerville with his wife, the former Catherine Van Rensselaer, and their three children in the summer. When his first summer home was burned to the ground by the British, he quickly built the restored mansion in 1777 that stands on the outskirts of Schuylerville today.