Saratoga National Historical Park
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Saratoga National Historical Park | |
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IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape) | |
Location: | New York, USA |
Nearest city: | Saratoga Springs, New York |
Coordinates: | |
Area: | 3,392 acres (13.73 km²) |
Established: | June 1, 1938 |
Total Visitation: | 98,394 (in 2005) |
Governing body: | National Park Service |
Saratoga National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in eastern New York State 40 miles north of Albany. The park preserves the site of the Battles of Saratoga, the first significant American military victory of the American Revolutionary War. Here in 1777, American forces met, defeated, and forced a major British army to surrender, an event which led France to recognize the independence of the United States, and enter the war as a decisive military ally of the struggling Americans.
First authorized as a New York state historic preserve in 1927 on the sesquicentennial of the Battles, the Battlefield was made part of the National Park System in 1938 when Saratoga National Historical Park was authorized by the United States Congress.
The park now comprises three separate units: the four-square mile Battlefield in Stillwater, New York, the General Philip Schuyler House eight miles north in Schuylerville, and the Saratoga Monument in the nearby village of Victory.
The park is located on the upper Hudson River in an area possessing significant natural and cultural attractions appealing to a wide range of visitors from around the world.