Patriots Day Event on Saturday, May 16, at the Fort Herkimer Church

Each year, the Little Falls Historical Society honors Patriots Day by hosting a special event at a local historical site critical to our colonial and Revolutionary War eras. This year, for the 15th Annual Patriots Day on Saturday, May 16, the Little Falls Historical Society will be at the Fort Herkimer Church in German Flatts. 

The Patriots Day program begins at 11:00 a.m. and will feature a number of short addresses on various topics related to the Revolutionary War as it impacted the Mohawk Valley region.

The event is free and open to the public.

About Patriots Day

Patriots Day began in 1894 as a New England regional observance, and, in 1934, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established the third Monday in April as a state holiday commemorating the April 19, 1775 beginning of the Revolutionary War when American Minute Men and British troops skirmished at Lexington and Concord. The epic Battle of Bunker Hill followed on June 17, 1775.

Here in the Mohawk Valley have equally compelling reasons to recognize our ancestors’ critical contributions to the outcome of the American Revolution. Local Revolutionary War Patriots may have lacked the formal education and national stage that produced the oratorical eloquence of New England’s Samuel Adams and James Otis, or Pennsylvania’s Thomas Paine or Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, but, heroes and Patriots they were, our heroes and Patriots. Certainly, we can safely liken the courage of the Palatine Committee of Safety in drafting its May 21, 1775 Declaration of Independence-like document at Snell’s Tavern in Stone Arabia to the July 4, 1776 decision by our national Founding Fathers in issuing our more famous Declaration of Independence. These were our local founding fathers, and they acted more than a year earlier than our national Founding Fathers!

About Fort Herkimer Church

Fort Herkimer Church is nestled on the bank of the Mohawk River along Route 5S in the Town of German Flatts. Built between 1753 and 1767, Fort Herkimer Church is one of the oldest churches in New York State and the oldest building in Herkimer County.

Fort Herkimer Church once served as a fortress during both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, as well as a place of worship for valley residents.

Today, the church is used for various religious, patriotic, and family services. Fort Herkimer Church was entered on the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1972.

This was first published by the Little Falls Historical Society.