The July 19, 1887 issue of the Glens Falls Daily Times newspaper declared that Isaac Crandall had “no superior as a florist.” The greenhouse owner not only was renowned for his exquisite-flower arrangements, he also was incredibly lucky.
Two years earlier in 1885, Crandall accidentally uprooted rare artifacts while planting a tree near the Methodist church in Caldwell (now known as Lake George).
Isaac Crandall owned a popular-garden nursery on Glen Street in Glens Falls. Besides selling floral specimens to Glens Falls residents and businesses, he frequently did garden-related work around Lake George.
At Fort William Henry Hotel and other lakeside resorts, Crandall installed hundreds of potted plants and sold flowers to hotels and tourists.
On May 2, 1885, Crandall was digging a deep hole to plant a maple tree in front of the Methodist chapel that had recently been built 200 yards west of present-day Shepard Park. The popular beach in the village of Lake George.
At a depth of two feet, Crandall’s spade clanged when it struck something metallic. To Crandall’s surprise, he had uncovered a cache of old-military relics.
The assemblage included four 12-pound cannonballs and an Indigenous projectile point. The latter was described as a “black flint arrow head.”
The newspapers that covered this human interest story did not indicate if the ordnance had the ownership mark of the British broad arrow or the French fleur-de-lis.
However, based upon the location of Crandall’s unearthing and because the cannonballs were in a grouping, it is likely the artillery projectiles were French and dated to the French & Indian War (1755–1763).
The site of the discovery was near the August 1757 troop positions, artillery batteries, and entrenchment lines of French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm’s attack on British-held Fort William Henry. The wood-and-earthen fortification stood at the south end of Lake George and was built in 1755.
Montcalm’s army of French and Canadian soldiers and their Native American allies came from the French forts in the Champlain Valley. Montcalm’s transport vessels landed on the west side of Lake George at a site today known as Artillery Cove, just north of Pine Point.
The French-led forces then dug a trench south to inch closer to Fort William Henry so as to more accurately bombard the garrison with heavy-siege guns.
The four 12-pound cannonballs probably were either “drops” lost in the confusion of battle or were abandoned after the French seized the British garrison after several days of fierce combat.
The projectile point may not have been associated with the August 1757 combat. It might have been a coincidence the native artifact was alongside the cannonballs. At this time in colonial-American history, the Indigenous allies of the French were often armed with muskets.
The 1885 literature record did not cite what happened to the relics unearthed by the florist.
Soon after the remarkable discovery, Isaac Crandall was back in his conservatory in Glens Falls. According to advertisements in area newspapers he was growing spring flowers and vegetables.
Nonetheless, Crandall likely never forgot the day he unexpectedly dug up cultural treasures from the French & Indian War.
Read more about the 1757 Siege of Fort William Henry.
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
Illustration: The northwest bastion of replica Fort William Henry.
