VICTORY — The elevated bluff where British troops made their last stand during the 1777 Battles of Saratoga will be opened to the public this fall.

The 22-acre site called Victory Woods is located around eight miles north of the Saratoga National Historical Park in Stillwater. But this historic site, complete with Revolutionary War earthworks, cannon placements and remnants of a powder magazine, is directly linked to the Battles of Saratoga.

That’s why the National Park Service is developing and interpreting the site so visitors can better understand the dynamics of one of the nation’s most important battles.

Chris Martin, chief resource manager for the Saratoga National Historical Park, said Wednesday that a boardwalk is being built on a portion of a trail that will bring visitors past the historic locations, with interpretive signs to connect this location with the battlefield in Stillwater.

“The decking has been put down and railings are going up,” Martin said.

The Victory Woods project started three years ago with a National Park Service proposal to improve the site donated in 1974. The project received a $310,000 federal allocation in 2006.

The Battles of Saratoga are considered the turning point of the Revolutionary War, providing the American patriots with badly needed international support from France, Spain and other countries.

British troops under the command of Gen. John Burgoyne and American Colonial forces fought the battles in September and October of 1777.

Under the daring leadership of American Gen. Benedict Arnold, later to become a traitor, the British forces were overwhelmed by the American troops.

Burgoyne led his troops away from the Stillwater battlefields through mud and rain north to the Heights at Saratoga, where Victory Woods is located off Gates Avenue (Route 32).

The outnumbered British were finally surrounded by American soldiers during a siege that lasted some days. Burgoyne and American Gen. Horatio Gates negotiated a surrender of the British forces on Oct. 17, 1777.

The Saratoga Monument on Burgoyne Avenue in Victory was built in 1883 a third of a mile north of Victory Woods.

The new parking lots for the monument, which was renovated in recent years, will also serve as parking for Victory Woods. A trail will lead from the monument area through a portion of a cemetery and into the woods.

The trail in the woods as well as a smaller parking lot at the end of Monument Drive will be completely handicapped accessible, Martin said.

Underbrush and trees in two specific areas of Victory Woods are being cleared so that the important strategic vistas looking out over Fish Creek can be restored. When Burgoyne looked from the Heights at Saratoga out toward Fish Creek, he could see the American forces gathering on the other side of the creek and starting to bombard the British encampment.

“We want to open up the view,” Martin said.

“We’ve never been able to interpret to the public those final closing movements of the [Saratoga] campaign,” Martin said.

He said Victory Woods brings people directly to the location where Burgoyne’s forces had retreated.

“It tells the story in a tangible way,” he said.

The National Park Service has spent three years assessing the property for historic artifacts and environmental issues and holding public meetings to share the findings with the public.

No significant individual Revolutionary War artifacts, like actual weapons or equipment, were found during an extensive archaeological study at the site.

However, the angled earthworks, cannon placement areas and remnants of a gunpowder magazine from 1777 have been identified and will be part of the six to eight interpretive exhibits along the trail in the woods.

The federal government has just completed an environmental assessment of the 22 acres, as required by law.

Comments from the public and other government agencies were sought and received during the long planning and review process.

Martin said the park service received no negative comments about turning what had been a parcel of overgrown land in the village into a historic site with trails.

The Victory Woods site is considered part of the National Park Service’s Old Saratoga Parcel, which also includes the nearby Victory Monument and the Schuyler House on Route 4 in Schuylerville.

The local communities in this area are planning to eventually link the Victory Woods Trail to other historic sites and nature trails in the vicinity, including the old canal towpath trail in Schuylerville, Martin said.

The exact date this fall when Victory Woods will be opened to the public has not been set, he said.