This week's recap revisits the stories we've explored — a chance to walk familiar ground, linger a little longer, and catch what we missed the first time. History rewards return visits. The landscape always has one more detail waiting to be found.
This week, the spotlight is on the Saratoga Revolutionary Experience (SRE) app — your guide to the region where the American Revolution turned. This free passport takes you to the museums, breweries, farms, and kitchens that make this place what it is today. Check in with your phone as you go — the more you experience, the greater your chance of victory. No cost, no set pace, and new stops are added along the way.
SPOT THIS ON THE COUNTER?
This week, the spotlight is on the Saratoga Revolutionary Experience (SRE) app — your guide to the region where the American Revolution turned. This free passport takes you to the museums, breweries, farms, and kitchens that make this place what it is today. Check in with your phone as you go — the more you experience, the greater your chance of victory. No cost, no set pace, and new stops are added along the way.
SPOT THIS ON THE COUNTER?
A heartfelt thank you to the 3,400 fellow travelers through time who joined us on Substack last week, and to the full company of 33.7k across every medium who walked these old roads with us. There is something deeply moving about a growing circle of curious minds returning again and again — trading stories, chasing footnotes, and keeping the past alive together. History is never a solitary pursuit, and I'm grateful to have so many companions on the journey.
📅 Saturday, August 22, 2026 • 9:30 AM
History Caravan
📍 Saratoga National Historical Park Visitor Center, 648 Route 32, Stillwater, NY
Follow a Park Volunteer through the battlefield in a caravan‑style tour that brings the Northern Campaign to life. Explore key sites, landscapes, and decisions that shaped the outcome. Tours last 2.5–3 hours; follow in your own vehicle. Weather dependent.
On August 19, 1777, Horatio Gates replaced Philip Schuyler as commander of the Northern Department, but he did not inherit a defeated army. He inherited a force Schuyler had preserved through strategic withdrawal while American victories at Bennington and in the Mohawk Valley were already weakening Burgoyne’s campaign. The article argues that the Battles of Saratoga emerged from this accumulated process of military endurance, political legitimacy, logistics, terrain, and changing momentum rather than from the actions of a single commander. Read the story https://tinyurl.com/4tznb67y
The essay examines the Battle of Bennington as a crucial moment in John Burgoyne’s 1777 campaign, emphasizing Stark’s leadership, the loss of British troops and supplies, and the battle’s consequences for the Battles of Saratoga. Its central argument is that landscape, contingency, and human decisions mattered as much as military strength. Learn more at: https://tinyurl.com/56u57d7k
After the Battle of Bennington, Burgoyne lost soldiers, supplies, and many of the American Indian and First Nation allies who helped his army understand and move through the northern New York landscape. Read more https://tinyurl.com/yc2vxtut
Bennington shows us that the Battles of Saratoga were shaped by many smaller decisions, difficult roads, weather, shortages, and unexpected events that built pressure on Burgoyne’s army before the fighting reached Saratoga County. Read it now: https://tinyurl.com/3c3py283
Every Thursday, we share current events and operating information alongside the history that connects us to this place. This October, Victory Season at Saratoga will connect visitors and residents with living history, historic sites, a students’ ceremony, free trolley transportation, and 18th-century music. The new Turning Point Passport extends that experience, connecting fourteen stops and counting across Schuylerville, Stillwater, Ballston Spa, and Saratoga Springs. These efforts demonstrate how preservation and heritage tourism can help communities interpret their history while welcoming visitors to the Hudson River Valley. Read the Substack article:
https://tinyurl.com/4yuedd9t
Wheeler Case’s 1777 poetry offers more than a celebration of Burgoyne’s defeat. Read against the landscape of the Saratoga Campaign, it reveals how Patriot Americans experienced uncertainty, interpreted military events through faith, and imagined a future they could not yet see. The essay connects an eighteenth-century voice with today’s visitors, historic sites, and the continuing work of interpreting the Battles of Saratoga. Read the substack: https://tinyurl.com/3m56e52y
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For those who have been reading here for a while, it will come as no surprise that the Saratoga County History Center holds a special place in my life.
I served as vice president and helped lead communications and membership for several years. It is a place where history is not abstract—it is handled, questioned, and shared in ways that stay with you.
So when they asked me to host this fundraiser, I said yes without hesitation.
This organization does the quiet, essential work: preserving collections, supporting research, and creating space for people to encounter the past honestly. That work depends on community support.
I hope you will join me. It will be a good night, and it matters.
History is experienced, not memorized. This is one of the places where that happens.
If this Substack speaks to you, consider this an open invitation.
A History Trivia Night is being held in celebration of America’s 250th—an evening built around conversation, competition, and the shared pleasure of knowing the past. Teams will form around tables, among friends and new acquaintances alike, to test their knowledge of the American Revolution, the presidency, local history, and popular culture.
The program will be hosted by Sean Kelleher, Vice Chair of Saratoga 250 and Town of Saratoga Historian.
Throughout the evening, there will be a 50–50 raffle, prizes, and refreshments, including beer from Active Ingredient Brewing Company.
Tickets are $10 with soft drinks or $15 with a beer. All proceeds support the Saratoga County History Center at Brookside Museum.
History is experienced, not memorized. This is one of those chances to experience it—together.
21 Fairground Ave
Ballston Spa, NY 12020
I’ve spent much of my life asking for pledges.
Back when I worked at a PBS station, fundraising drives were “all hands on deck.” Even the education project managers—people like me—got on camera and made the pitch, because we were the ones who could explain why the work mattered. We believed in it. We lived it. And we knew that public‑supported projects only exist because people choose to keep them alive.
That instinct never left me.
Over the years I’ve fundraised for history museums, food pantries, churches, fire departments, and cultural festivals—all the places where community and public good depend on people stepping forward. I’ve never chased what pays the most. I’ve always chased impact.
Past Paths comes from that same place.
It’s an independent, nonpartisan project—just me walking Saratoga’s landscapes, listening to what the terrain remembers, and writing about how Revolutionary history still lives in the places we stand. There’s no institution behind it. No grant. No budget. Just the belief that public history should be accessible, thoughtful, and grounded in the land itself.
And it’s always free.
That part matters to me.
But free doesn’t mean effortless. Every essay takes time, research, walking, rewriting, and the kind of care that only exists when a community believes the work is worth doing.
If Past Paths has added meaning to your understanding of Saratoga—if it’s deepened your sense of place, or helped you see the Revolution through a more human lens—I’d be grateful for your pledge. Your support keeps this work going and allows me to continue choosing purpose over profit.
If you believe in this kind of storytelling, please consider a pledge to sustain it.
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