Visiting Historical Battlefields: You Might Want to Get in Shape

On a recent vacation trip home to Upstate New York, I decided it would be fun to show my children the historical sites around Schuylerville that I had grown up with. These sites were what fed my love of American history throughout my childhood, and I wanted to share it with my own children.

It just about killed me.

Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it definitely showed me I wasn't as fit as I had been in my childhood.

First on our historical field trip was the Saratoga Battlefield. For those that don't know, the little corner of the world where I grew up was the site of the turning point of the American Revolution. Luckily for Americans, the battle turned the war in our favor.

Our first stop at the battlefield was the visitor's center. Here you can purchase souvenirs, books on history, and pay the small fee to take the battlefield tour, but you have to climb quite a few stairs to get there. There is a ramp that makes it handicap accessible, but I have to tell you...I wouldn't want to be the one pushing the wheelchair up that hill.

There are also exhibits set up that detail not only the Battle of Saratoga, but also other points of interest during the war.

My personal favorite is the exhibit that explains what role women played in the war. Many women followed their loved ones from camp to camp, battle to battle. They helped cook, clean and tend to the wounded.

My sons' favorite exhibit was the one that detailed cleanliness (or lack of cleanliness) during that time period. You don't want to know what they used as toilet paper back in the day. You know that whole corn cob thing? Yeah...there's truth to that.

According to the exhibit, they also used urine to brush their teeth. I didn't know that. I'm not sure I needed to know that. It makes you wonder what the point was to brushing.

There was also a short movie we watched that gave an overview of the battle. I do recommend watching this, especially if it is your first time touring the park. It also gives you a moment off your feet before you subject them the hiking you'll be doing soon.

After we toured the visitor's center, we started the drive through the rest of the battlefield, stopping at the designated points of interest along the way. Some were easy to navigate while others were a little more...aggressive.

We did great until the last stop. Well...we did okay until the last stop. To be honest, at some stops we stayed in the truck, looked at the field in front of us and read from the pamphlet we picked up at the visitor's center.

The last stop was the burial site of General Fraser, who had been mortally wounded during the second Battle of Saratoga. It's a one mile loop which goes down a hill. That was the easy part. The hard part was the knowledge in the back of your mind that you have to go back up that hill to get back to your car.

I don't remember that hill being quite so large when I was a kid.

At one point, we came within throwing distance to Route 4. If I had my cell phone on me, I would have called my father, who stayed in the truck due to health problems, and told him to just pick us up on the highway. But, since I didn't have my phone, we sucked it up and finished the tour. I had visions of having to be airlifted out of the park about halfway up the hill.

All in all, it was an enjoyable day. Even my children, who think the Wii Fit is an intense workout, enjoyed themselves.

As for me, I've already begun my training on the treadmill for our trip to Gettysburg next year. And I'm bringing my cell phone.

http://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm