Formerly Founder’s Weekend, the Siege of Fort La Presentation will be held July 15 and 16, 2023, at the fort site on Van Rensselaer Point, Ogdensburg, bringing re-enacters from throughout the U.S. and Canada to help celebrate Ogdenburg’s French colonial history.
They will demonstrate life as it was during the French and Indian War. The event has been ongoing for a decade and is especially instructive to children who can touch, feel and live history. Participants dressed in clothing from the time period show how they lived, made sashes, wove baskets, started fires and threw tomahawks. A complete schedule is forthcoming.
Please see Unit and Sutler registration forms below, which may be filled out online and emailed to the address shown on the forms.
The Sìege du Fort de La Presentation Committee thanks our wonderful sponsors for their support of the 2023 event. Their generous donations make our event possible:
Atlantic Testing Laboratories
St. Lawrence Federal Credit Union
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg
SeaComm Federal Credit Union
Community Bank Investment Service
Dr. Michael Seidman
Barbara and Jack O’Keefe
Frary Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc.
The Upstate National Bank
Hosmer’s Marina
Austin-Layng Auto and Marine Repair
Dr. Dale Hosmer, D.D.S.
North Country Savings Bank
Ed-Med Federal Credit Union
Jack and Jo Anne Backus
Community Bank
The Cutting Edge
Save-A-Lot Supermarkets
Ogdensburg City School District
Greater Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce
The Ogdensburg Journal
The Ogdensburg Department of Public Works
Clint McMartin
The Ogdensburg Kiwanis
Ogdensburg McDonalds
Father James Shurtleff and Notre Dame Church
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For more than a decade re-enactors have assembled on Van Rensselaer (Lighthouse) Point to commemorate Ogdensburg’s French colonial history. The military re-enactment and living history event draws re-enactors, historians, colonial artisans and event attendees from New York, Ontario and Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states and provinces.
Fort de la Présentation was founded in 1749 by Abbé Francois Picquet as a mission to Roman Catholic Iroquois and their allies. In the mid-1750s, the surrounding native populations from both shores of the St. Lawrence River and adjacent islands neared 3,000 from which warriors joined the French in their conflict with England during the French and Indian War. Fort de la Présentation was abandoned in 1759 when the British gained the upper hand in the war and most of the Native population dispersed. In 1760, the two-part Battle of the Thousand Islands signaled the end of the French régime in North America. The French vessel L’Outauaise was captured by British gunboats off Isle Royale in August and later that month Fort Lévis (on what is now known as Chimney Island, located opposite the Ogdensburg shoreline) surrendered to the British after more than a week long artillery bombardment. Fort de la Lévis, defended by about 300 French, Canadian troops and Native Americans fell to an Anglo-American Army over 10,000 strong. In September 1760, Montreal surrendered and Canada officially joined the other American colonies as part of the British Empire after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1763.
Please click the links below to see previous Founder’s Weekend Programs, which features all of our past supporters!
fort1749.org 