Fort Ann, New York
town in Washington County, New York, United States
Fort Ann is a town in Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 5,812 at the 2020 census.
The town contains a village, also called Fort Ann, located in its southeastern corner.
History
Colonial period
Fort Ann is located on the historic route linking the French and English colonies.
The area was the site of several forts built by various nations, from a small French fort called "The Pickets" near the southern end of Lake Champlain in 1689, in the northwestern area of the town, to a series of forts (including "Fort Schuyler" and "Queen's Fort") closer to where the village of Fort Ann stands today. The first of these was likely the Stone Fort, built by Englishman Fitz John Winthrop in 1692.
The English expedition led by Francis Nicholson built Fort Schuyler, approximately one-half mile south of the present village, in 1709. (The old Champlain Canal passed through a part of the site.) Nicholson burned the fort when he and his army left, but he returned in 1711 and built the Queen's Fort, later renamed Fort Anne (after Queen Anne of Great Britain), at the same site. It fell into ruins during the English colonial period.
The public source identifies “Fort Ann, New York” as town in Washington County, New York, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fort, York and town.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Fort Ann, New York”, the useful work is to connect “town in Washington County, New York, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q934180. VIAF identifies the subject as 146700619. The Library of Congress control number is n89118850. Authority coordinates are 43.464, -73.539. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1689, 1692 and 1709.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Fort Ann, New York”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Fort Ann, New York primary sources, Fort Ann, New York archive and Fort research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Fort Ann, New York”?
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- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Fort Ann, New York” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.