Crown Point State Historic Site Crown Point State Historic Site is the site of a former military stronghold at the south end of the wider part of Lake Champlain . The location is in Essex County , New York , USA . The site is on a peninsula in the town of Crown Point , New York . Crown Point is the location of the 1734 – 1759 French - built Fort St . Frédéric limestone fortress and an even more ambitious British fort constructed during the French and Indian War , starting in 1759 , Fort Crown Point . During the American Revolutionary War , the fort was captured by Seth Warner and his Green Mountain Boys militia on May 12 , 1775 , but was re - taken by the British invasion under General John Burgoyne early in the summer of 1777 . Once at the front line of the New World clash between two colonizing European nations , the two forts ' ruins remain and are operated as a historic attraction by the State of New York . History . Fort St . Frédéric . Construction started in 1734 . When complete , Fort Saint - Frédéric walls were twelve feet thick and four stories high , with cannons on each level . It was manned by hundreds of officers and troops , principally from Les Compagnies Franches de la Marine . The fort gave the French control of the frontier between New France and the British colonies to the south . As the only permanent stronghold in the area until the building of Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga starting in 1755 , many French raids originated there and it was a target of British operations in the French and Indian War . Constructed on the tip of a strategic peninsula at a narrows in the lake , the cannons of Fort Saint - Frédéric and the later British Fort Crown Point were capable of halting all north - south travel on the lake . In 1759 when British forces moved against Fort Saint - Frédéric during the war , the retreating French destroyed it . Fort Crown Point . Rather than rehabilitate the ruins of the French fort , General Amherst embarked on the construction of an enormous earthen fort . The Crown Point fort was constructed by his following the capture of Fort Carillon , a French fort to the south ( which he renamed Fort Ticonderoga ) , and the destruction of Fort St . Frédéric . Amherst used the construction of the fort as a means of keeping his men working through the winter of 1759 after pushing the French into modern Canada . The Fort was never directly assaulted . Mostly built after the threat of French invasion had ended , it was used largely for staging rather than as a position in its own right . After the French and Indian War the British left only a skeletal force at the Fort , which yielded easily to Capt . Seth Warner and 100 Green Mountain Boys , an American militia , on May 12 , 1775 in the battle of Crown Point at the start of the American Revolutionary War . The 111 cannons captured from the British at Crown Point proved valuable in driving the British out of Boston . The fort was used as a staging ground by Benedict Arnold during the war for his navy on Lake Champlain . After the destruction of that navy in 1776 in the Battle of Valcour Island , the fort was abandoned to the British in 1777 . It was abandoned for good in 1780 . The large earthen walls of the fort are still visible today . A massive , accidental fire in April 1773 entirely destroyed the log and earth fortress , leaving the empty stone ruins of two barracks buildings standing . These ruins still stand and are being carefully preserved . Today . The historic site was established in 1910 to preserve the ruins of the two forts . Both fort ruins are listed as U . S . National Historic Landmarks . Fort Saint - Frédéric was registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1962 . The park ' s facilities and services include a picnic area , scenic views , hiking , a museum , history interpreters in replica clothing , and educational services .