Despite Ceremony, NY Fort's Skeletons not Buried

Despite Ceremony, NY Fort's Skeletons not Buried

February 07, 2012
Associated Press|by Chris Carola

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- For decades, tourists visiting this popular Adirondack village could gape at the skeletons of soldiers from nearby French and Indian War sites. Then in 1993, a somber reburial ceremony was held to finally put the remains to rest.

Only that never happened.

Almost all of the 18th-century skeletons were never buried. Instead, the collection of remains eventually was taken to Arizona and Canada for study and has yet to be returned for reburial. In this small upstate New York town that was the real-life setting for the historical events depicted in "The Last of the Mohicans," people had no idea.

"Most of them aren't there?" asked Robert Blais, mayor of Lake George since 1971, who learned about the decision from The Associated Press.

The AP spoke to archaeologists who have dug at the site, fort officials and the anthropologists who have the remains to confirm that the bulk of the skeleton collection is not at the fort.

Now, the people behind the decision are publicly discussing for the first time how such important artifacts left Lake George, and why they haven't been returned after nearly two decades.
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