The Hebron Preservation Society will present “The Life and Death of Jane McCrea on July 26, 1777,” a program by long-time Fort Edward Town Historian Paul McCarty on Thursday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m.

The event will be held at Hebron United Church East. The church is located at 6559 State Route 22 in the hamlet of East Hebron, just past the Chamberlin Mills Road going north. It is about 7 miles north of Salem and 10 miles south of Granville.

McCarty has been Fort Edward town historian for nearly 50 years. He has researched and written numerous articles on Washington County history and especially the history of Fort Edward. McCarty has become the “go-to” guy for history on topics such as Jane McCrea, Solomon Northup, and the Champlain Canal. He has been interviewed on several historical documentaries on topics such as the death of Jane McCrea. He has spoken throughout the area on these topics as well.

The questions surrounding the Jane McCrea story include: Who was she? How did she come to be in Fort Edward during Burgoyne’s invasion of the North Country? How was she captured? How was she killed? Why was her body reinterred several times? These questions will be answered during McCarty’s talk.

Well-known historian Richard Ketchum states in his book, “Saratoga”: “Her (McCrea’s) demise was one of the first and in some respects the most dramatic of the atrocities now being committed almost daily by Burgoyne’s Indians, and coming on the heels of his earlier threats, it made for extremely effective propaganda. Was the killing of Jane McCrea a boost to the American cause?”

The talk is free and open to the public. Donations gladly accepted.