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The best place to begin exploring Saratoga County
NY is by dropping into the Saratoga Springs Visitor Center, at 297 Broadway. Open daily from 9 am to 4 pm (but closed on Sundays from December through March), the Center can provide you with maps and brochures in addition to answering whatever questions you have about the region. Saratoga County's Chamber of Commerce (at 28 Clinton St., two blocks from Broadway) is an equally reliable source of information, and in July and August you can also try the Chamber's Information Booth in the center of town (Broadway at Congress Park).
REDCOATS AND REBELS
 Approximately
a twenty-minute drive southeast of Saratoga
Springs, in Stillwater, lies the Saratoga
National Historical Park. The American victory
over the British at Saratoga in October 1777 is widely
regarded as one of the pivotal battles in world history—had
the Yanks not won here, their bid for independence could
very well have been doomed. It's a compelling story (among
other things, you'll learn that a certain Benedict Arnold
was one of the heroes of Saratoga), and the Park tells
it so well you just might come away from here having learned
more about the American Revolution in one day than you
did in all of high school.
Start at the Visitor Center before you visit the battlefields proper—a fiber-optic light display and a short film lay out the terrain for you, and even better are the park rangers who can answer seemingly any question a layperson sends their way. Then, beginning from the south end of the Visitor Center parking area, follow the auto tour, which winds through the actual battlegrounds and other strategic spots in the Park proper before continuing north on Route 4. (The auto tour inside the Park is open from April through November 30 of each year, weather permitting.)
Outside the Park grounds, follow Route 4 eight miles north up to Schuylerville. Two quick stops right off the road are the Schuyler House, the country estate of American General Philip Schuyler, and Fort Hardy Park, the actual site where General Burgoyne laid down British arms on October 17, 1777. Visitors may also notice an emerging arts corridor along Schuylerville's main street, a happy sign of the town's improving fortunes.
Your tour culminates, appropriately, in the village of Victory, home of the recently renovated Saratoga Battle Monument; make it to the top of the Monument (155 feet high!) and you'll be rewarded with panoramic views of not only Saratoga County to the west but also, looking east, the Hudson River and Vermont! (You may also want to stop at the apple orchard located conveniently on the way to the Monument.)
BOTTLES AND BATHS
The word "charming" might just as well have been coined
to describe the village of Ballston Spa, almost a Saratoga
Springs in miniature. A thriving resort community
in the later nineteenth century, Ballston Spa is the site
of several once-famous mineral water springs and became
a popular "watering hole" for the upper crust during the
heyday of the mineral water industry.
 Sometimes
described as a veritable outdoor architecture museum,
the village still retains much of its earlier grandeur.
Newcomers will want to stroll down Milton Avenue,
the main drag, for its splendid Victorian buildings alone
(not surprisingly, this part of town is now an official
historic district), but the shops themselves are a draw
in their own right. Vintage items abound at The
Antique Store. And when you want to sit down
and "pour" over your finds, Coffee Planet
(left) dispenses gourmet coffee and teas from around the
world in a laid-back cafÈ atmosphere.
Milton Avenue also boasts a one-of-a-kind attraction in the National Bottle Museum. This storefront museum's avowed mission is to preserve the history of this country's first major industry: bottle making. The ground floor alone holds one wall displaying some 2000 bottles of every conceivable shape, size, and color; even skeptics will be struck by just how beautiful many of these artifacts are. In addition to regularly changing exhibits the Bottle Museum offers glassblowing classes, and it also sponsors a 160-table antique bottle show and sale here every June.
Just off Milton Avenue, still within the historic district, Front Street also merits a visit. If you want the complete Ballston Spa experience, go for the full-service treatment at the Medbery Inn & Spa, where visitors can pamper themselves with mineral baths, facials, body treatments, waxing, massages, makeup, pedicures, and aromatherapy.
One glance in the old-fashioned display window will show that Fishers' Variety Store appears to hold just about every kind of merchandise imaginable. Across the street, next to the charming, vest-pocket-sized Wiswall Park, The Shops at Front Street combine gallery space with a set of artists' studios; new exhibitions go up regularly, and studios are open to the public as well. Finally, architecture buffs should be sure not to miss the striking red-brick office building at the corner of Front and Bath, which dates from 1873.
IT'S A LOCK
Thanks to geography, the southeastern corner of Saratoga County has its own unique history. The convergence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers and the Champlain and Erie Canals made the town of Waterford a major point of entry to the New York State canal system by the mid-nineteenth century. Boats and barges plied these waters for decades, shuttling goods and materials between the east coast and the Great Lakes area.
 Today, the canal system is used largely for recreation, but Waterford is still home to a working waterfront that hosts hundreds of boaters exploring the nearby rivers and canals each year. The Waterford Harbor Visitors Center has a fun "promenade tour" of the Erie and Champlain Canals built right into its sidewalk; see how locks work and trace the canals' routes in miniature there before you set out along the Champlain Canal Byway—some of the tugs are just plain adorable. Drive, bike or boat this officially designated "New York State Scenic Byway" along Route 4 and the Hudson River/Champlain Canal from Waterford through the historic villages of Halfmoon, Mechanicville, and Stillwater before ending up 64 miles later in Whitehall, birthplace of the United States Navy.
Waterford also celebrates its maritime-industrial heritage every September with its annual Tugboat Roundup (above left). Usually held the weekend after Labor Day, the festival has grown to the point where approximately 25,000 people descend on this sleepy canal town each year for a chance to see these uniquely endearing vessels up close. Tours of the visiting tugs are offered, along with boat rides, children's activities, fireworks, live music, and other attractions.
ENTERING THE NORTH COUNTRY
 The
northwest corner of Saratoga County, which includes the
southern edge of Adirondack State Park,
is an outdoor-lover's paradise. From downtown Saratoga
Springs, follow Route 9N north up to Corinth
and within a half hour you'll be impressed both by how
scenic the countryside becomes and by how quickly the
population thins out. The southern end of the Great
Sacandaga Lake is a treat any time of the year:
a great place to explore by snowshoe, cross-country ski,
or snowmobile in winter, as well as a major destination
for kayakers and whitewater rafters in the summer. (The
29-mile lake boasts 125 miles of shoreline, so there's
no shortage of places to put in.) Paddlers can head to
the Sacandaga Outdoor Center in the town
of Hadley for kayak lessons and rentals, and the Center
can also set you up for whitewater rafting and tubing.
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