On Saturday, July 28, 2018, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, Vermont, offers its annual travel back in time interview program, “Investigation into the Revolutionary Mind,” to summon two very different American Revolutionary War officers from the Northern Campaign of 1776-1777. Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, American Army commander of New York (which included Mount Independence), and Col. Seth Warner, leader of the Green Mountain Boys, will be questioned about the Revolutionary events they were instrumental in during 1776 and 1777. Did they get along? What did they think about each other? What were their approaches to the war?

These first-person programs are always engaging and visitor favorites. Schuyler will be portrayed by Steve Whalen and Warner by Ennis Duling. Modern day historian and site interpreter Paul Andriscin is the interviewer. Questions from the audience are welcome at the end.

This series of annual programs has explored the decision-making of Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair and the American withdrawal from the Mount in 1777, the lives of the common soldiers, engineer Col. Jeduthan Baldwin, Col. John Brown and the September 1777 American raid to take back the Mount from the British, the 1791 Vermont visit by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, conflict between American general Benedict Arnold and British general Guy Carleton, John Trumbull and Anthony Wayne, and last year Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne and German Maj. Gen. Baron Riedesel.

The event is included in the regular admission fee of $5.00 for adults and free for children under 15. Enjoy the air-conditioned museum. While there you can also walk any or all of the six miles of trails on the over 300-acre site.  Call 802-948-2000 for more information.

The Mount Independence State Historic Site is one of the best-preserved Revolutionary War sites in America.  It is located near the end of Mount Independence Road, six miles west of the intersections of Vermont Routes 22A and 73 near Orwell village; carefully follow the signs. Regular hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily through October 14.