We pulled anchor in 59 degrees and a bright sunny day. Heading south the mountains of Vermont recede, but the farms remain. On the New York side, the Adirondack Mountains continue, just not directly at the lakes edge. The lake narrows and depths are now 20-30 feet.
Our destination is Fort Ticonderoga, NY, the fort which was the gateway to Lake Champlain and the Hudson River and was coveted by the French and British.
We anchored just south of the fort, in fact we have a great view of the restored fort from our anchorage.
The wooden fort, built by the French in 1755, started out as Fort Carillon. The French raided colonist settlements and even attacked a nearby British Fort William Henry on Lake George. As a result the British assaulted Fort Ticonderoga the following year and were repelled. The British tried again in 1759 and were successful in taking the fort, but not before the French blew up the powder magazine and left fort mostly in ruins. We have heard that story before!
The British occupied the fort during a period of peace until 1775 with a small contingent of soldiers. Then Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys and Benedict Arnold captured the fort and took most of the artillery by lake and over land to support the Siege of Boston. ( took them 18 months to move the cannons to Dorchester Heights outside Boston) The fort fell back into British hands during the Revolutionary War.
The fort was deserted and fell into further disrepair, until in 1820, William Pell purchased the property, one of the earliest acts of preservation of its kind in the US. It took until 1909 for another of the Pell family, Stephen and Sarah Pell, to begin full restoration and open Fort Ticonderoga to the public.
The restoration focused on the fort’s stone buildings so they look as they were in 1759. The wooden palisades and redoubts have not been restored. The living history component of the fort included tailors, bakers, shoemakers, soldiers and cannoneers. The staff does an excellent job of retelling Fort Ticonderoga’s part in history and what life was like in the fort in 1759.
Great views from the fort!
Bill took some fantastic drone shots of the fort. Enjoy!
Our sunset had a small rainbow effect. We again had a night filled with stars. Is awe inspiring to see the Milky Way!
Left Fort Ticonderoga on another glorious sunny day. As we head south, the Lake Champlain starts to wind around the rocky points and it continues to narrow.
Passing the narrow Chipman Point bend, we see the large mooring basin and ferry. The Hudson and Delaware Railroad line in again right on the lake, so we’ve seen two big freight trains this morning.
As the lake continues to narrows, we get closer to the end of Lake Champlain at Whitehall, NY. On some places we travel through gorges which are less then 1/2 mile across.
As we make the last winding turns on Lake Champlain, we leave Vermont behind and now are entirely in the state of New York.
One final turn and we approach the Champlain Canal and the official end of Lake Champlain. Lock 12 is the entrance to the Champlain Canal at Whitehall, NY.
The Champlain Canal was dug to connect lake Champlain to the Hudson River in 1822. The Canal was widened and deepened to its current size in 1916. Just like all the other canals we have traveled on, the canal was first used to move goods on barges, but today is used exclusively by pleasure boats. The Champlain Canal is 60 miles long and has 11 locks. The first 23 miles are man made from Lake Champlain south and the last 37 miles are actually the Hudson River, which was made navigable by adding locks to the river system.
At Lock 12 we went up 15.5 feet and stopped at the free city dock in the town of Whitehall for the night.
Will take advantage of the free electric and water to get a load of laundry done! Then will sample a local restaurant for lunch and walk around the town.
We walked up the cliff to visit Skene Manor built in 1842. Skene Manor was originally owned by Supreme Court Justice Joseph H Potter. The home fell into disrepair and the residents raised the monies to restore the building and furnish it as it would have been in 1842, then opened it to the public.
The town of Whitehall was a big quarry and lumber mill town but those industries are now gone and the town has seen better days. We walked through the local museum which told the story of Whitehall and how Benedict Arnold used the lumber and mills at Whitehall to build the 12 rowing galley boats and refit the captured sloops which were used at the Battle of Valcour. So the town is the known as the birthplace of the American Navy. The museum also had hull of the recovered steamship Ticonderoga which was used in the War of 1812.
