After six years of planning and fundraising, construction of the Repose of the Fallen in New York State Battlefield Park is underway. This Thursday, members of the Courtland Street Reinterment Committee marked the start of construction with a ground-breaking ceremony. When completed, the Repose of the Fallen Plaza will provide a final resting place for the remains of Revolutionary War soldiers and their supporters that were discovered during a construction project on Courtland Street in the Village of Lake George.
“This is a great thing,” said Lake George Town Supervisor Vincient Crocitto, Jr., “and I want to thank the Battlefield Alliance and John [John DiNuzzo, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance President] with his leadership, and the DEC, and with collaboration, working together, these are the great things we can accomplish in preserving our history, so I’m very excited.”
In February 2019, excavators uncovered what archeologists believe is a military cemetery associated with the 1776 smallpox hospital at Fort George in Battlefield Park. Volunteers spent a year sifting mounds of dirt from the construction site and recovered thousands of fragments, which were sent to the New York State Museum. Museum bioarcheologist Lisa Anderson and her team analyzed the remains and believe them to be from at least 44 individuals.
Recognizing the significance of the discovery and the need to honor these Continental soldiers with a fitting resting place, the Town and Village of Lake George established the Cortland Street Reinterment Committee in March 2019. Members of the committee include town and village officials, New York Department of Environmental Conservation staff, and members of local historical organizations.
The committee proposed a plaza with columbaria for the remains, educational and interpretive signage, walking space and seating. A site in Battlefield Park, along the east side of Fort George Road, was selected, and the project was approved by the New York DEC in spring 2024.
DiNuzzo noted that the park is a proper final resting place for these soldiers, saying, “When Senator Schumer was here two years ago, he might have been the one that uttered the phrase, ‘they drew their last breaths here’.” New York Senator Charles Shumer has been a strong supporter of the project and has visited the site twice.
Related: Hallowing of the Ground: Future Battlefield Park reinterment site consecrated with ceremony
The committee has raised $640,000, which includes $520,000 in New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant money, part of the $10 million awarded to Lake George for multiple projects. This amount will cover construction costs and the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The committee continues to seek donations to cover the ongoing maintenance of the plaza.
Peak Environmental of Latham is constructing the plaza. They have staked out the area and will begin work next week. The interment structures, six columbaria, have been bid out to Eickhof Columbaria of Minnesota. In addition to the Courtland Street remains, the columbaria will provide a final resting space for French and Indian War soldiers who have been disinterred over the years, including 27 sets of remains that were discovered in the 1960s, held at Fort William Henry for several years, and are now at Arizona State University for research.
According to Dan Barusch, Lake George Director of Planning and zoning and member of the Courtland Street Reinterment Committee, the construction will be completed by May 1, 2026, with some landscaping work done in the weeks leading up the ribbon cutting ceremony, which is scheduled for Friday, May 22, 2026.
Organizers expect that several hundred will attend the ceremony. Invitations have been sent to the New York Governor, Senators Shumer and Gillibrand, and Congresswomen Elise Stefanik. New York Senator Dan Stec, Assemblyman Matt Simpson, and local officials will attend, says Barusch.
Featured image: (L-R) Dan Barusch, Lake George Director of Planning and Zoning, Vincient Crocitto, Jr., Lake George Town Supervisor, John DiNuzzo, President, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance, and Rosemarie Earl, Treasurer, Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance
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This will be a positive and honorable way to recommit the remains to the ground they last walked upon. My hope is that the Battlefield Park Alliance and Village will continue to investigate claims of additional remains beneath what had been the parking lot of the Pancake House and other nearby properties so that all may be remembered and rest in peace.