by Bill Simoni, 10 May 2026
Playing all the games in the Battles of the American Revolution (BoAR) series has hopefully implanted the history more firmly in my head. I finally had a chance to test that out at the Saratoga National Historical Park.
My wife and I were driving from Northwest Ohio to Vermont for her to run a half marathon, and after staying the night in Syracuse, I was the passenger for the morning section of the drive. I perked up when I saw we were going through the Saratoga County area and quickly rerouted us to the Saratoga battlefield, which may have been the most serendipitous event that could have happened for us.
The Saratoga National Historical Park is run by the National Park Service, but there is no fee for entry. We started at their visitor center, which was quite impressive. Of course they have the books and the general kitsch that you expect to see in the gift shop. But the star of the show is the narrated fiber-optic battlefield map which covered the battles in about 15 minutes. Lights detailing army positions and active fighting show the entire progress of the battles on both September 19th and October 7th.
click images to enlarge
There were a couple of dioramas that showed Morgan’s rifles reforming after being disrupted and the assault the Americans made on a British readout during the 2nd battle.
They also have about a 20-minute movie about the battle, but unfortunately, that was closed while we were there because they had a group of 50+ kids in there for a special class.
There are hiking trails throughout the entire park, but we chose to take the 10-mile driving loop around to 10 of the most important and interesting locations. All of them had excellent exhibits and great views of the area. They really gave a picture of how the battles played out. There is very little development in the area. The park has stayed pristine, unlike, say, the battlefield of Gettysburg, which is covered with residential and commercial properties. This really gave the history a chance to shine here at Saratoga.
I’ve not gone to a ton of national park locations, but we were really impressed by how well documented the park is and the quality of the exhibits that are out in the park. Their general upkeep is incredible. So many parks have faded or broken or otherwise hard to read exhibits, but the ones that in Saratoga’s Park are incredibly clear and informative. They thread the needle on giving you the history of both battles since they occurred within a roughly 2 week period, but also are clear on the signs as to which battle they’re talking about.
What was also helpful is since I’ve played the Saratoga game from the BoAR series so frequently, I was able to picture and make the translation between what I was seeing in front of me and what I’ve seen when playing in the game. The visitor center, if you’re sitting at the Saratoga map in the game, would be at the bottom left corner of the map, and the British progress would be from left to right, which is actually north to south in real terms.
The trail from the Visitor’s Center follows the British advance towards Freeman’s Farm. Since we skipped the 4-mile hike, we drove to the Nielson Farm, which is where Benedict Arnold had his headquarters. It’s also the only building still extant from the days of the battles.
We didn’t quite make it to where Gates’ headquarters was, but it was about a half mile off the driving path. We were able to go around to the flood plain by the Hudson river that was the natural path that the British would have liked to have taken. One stop on the tour was the incredible placement of the artillery by Col. Tadeusz Kościuszko that prevented that route from being viable. In the game, you see where the starting artillery is bunched up right along the Hudson River that just makes it incredibly hard for the British player to pass that way.
The National Park Service has maintained the grounds and the ground cover as it was at the end of the battle. So you’re able to see directly why it would be hard for regular troops to make their way through there. It’s obvious why they had to follow established paths and trails to approach Freeman’s Farm and the Patriot lines.
We spent about 3-3.5 hours in the park. We were lucky enough to have brought lunch for our trip, so we were able to eat while looking over the vista down to the Hudson River. Schuylerville is 7 miles up the road if you want a restaurant.
We had to get back on the road, so we didn’t get to stop at some other interesting sites like the Saratoga Monument (celebrating the British surrender) and the Boot Monument (currently closed for improvements). The latter honors Benedict Arnold, a hero of this battle, but his name and likeness don’t appear there. He was wounded in the foot, hence the boot, but that’s also a means of conveying shame at his future as traitor.
The staff at the visitor center were incredibly friendly and informative. Both my wife and I highly enjoyed the visit and heartily recommend that if you’re in the area, make the time see this awesome piece of history that’s been preserved so well.
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