THE SNOW-IMAGE

AND

OTHER TWICE-TOLD TALES



OLD TICONDEROGA
A PICTURE OF THE PAST

By

Nathaniel Hawthorne



The greatest attraction, in this vicinity, is the famous old fortress of
Ticonderoga, the remains of which are visible from the piazza of the
tavern, on a swell of land that shuts in the prospect of the lake. Those
celebrated heights, Mount Defiance and Mount Independence, familiar to
all Americans in history, stand too prominent not to be recognized,
though neither of them precisely corresponds to the images excited by
their names. In truth, the whole scene, except the interior of the
fortress, disappointed me. Mount Defiance, which one pictures as a
steep, lofty, and rugged hill, of most formidable aspect, frowning down
with the grim visage of a precipice on old Ticonderoga, is merely a long
and wooded ridge; and bore, at some former period, the gentle name of
Sugar Hill. The brow is certainly difficult to climb, and high enough to
look into every corner of the fortress. St. Clair's most probable