The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) is a non-profit museum located in

Vergennes, Vermont Vergennes is a city located in the northwest quadrant of Addison County, Vermont, United States. The municipality is bordered by the towns of Ferrisburgh, Panton, and Waltham. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,553. It is the small ...

, US. It preserves and shares the history and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The New York portion of t ...

. As a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the milita ...

practicing archaeology, LCMM studies the shipwrecks discovered in Lake Champlain and has a large role in the management of those cultural resources. Through the preservation and analysis of artifacts, the museum showcases the story of the people and culture of the

region. It is open for visiting from May through mid-October.

History

Founded in 1985, the museum took up residence in an old stone schoolhouse on the grounds of the Basin Harbor Club, a private resort situated on the lake's shoreline, and opened to the public in 1986. Since its opening LCMM has expanded to include 18 buildings at two sites housing collections and exhibits, a boat shop and small shipyard,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

facilities, an

archaeological conservation The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include prev ...

laboratory, a museum store, offices, and lecture space. A major physical expansion occurred in 2001 when the ''Burlington Shipyard'' was opened in the city of Burlington, Vermont, some 20 miles north of LCMM's main campus. The following year the museum acquired the ''Capt. White Place'', a c.1815 ship captain's home in Burlington, and in 2004 moved its Burlington offices and exhibits from the shipyard into the ''Lyman Building'', a city-owned facility on the Burlington waterfront. In June 2017, the museum announced a five phase $44 million plan to raise and preserve the

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

, a gunboat that was sunk in the

Battle of Valcour Island The Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, was a naval engagement that took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the New York mainland and ...

Replica fleet

A significant part of the museum's effort to understand the region's maritime past is its fleet of replica vessels. Historians and archaeologists at the museum believe that the recreation of historic vessel types offers a unique understanding of the vessels, their crews, and the society of a given era while allowing the public to experience history in a very tangible way. The smallest of these, and the first replica built at the museum, is the ''Perseverance'', a boat of a type used during the French & Indian War, known as a

Bateau A bateau or batteau is a shallow- draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade. It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes. T ...

. The successful completion of that project in 1986 encouraged the museum and its supporters to build a replica of a revolutionary war gunboat, the ''Philadelphia II''. Launched in 1991, that vessel serves today as a focal point for interpreting the British and American campaigns on the Lake in 1776 and is an accurate reproduction of the original vessel which was sunk in combat at the

. It was raised from the lake's bottom in 1935 and is currently preserved at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. The flagship of the LCMM fleet is the canal schooner ''Lois McClure''. The product of a partnership between the museum and the

Lake Champlain Transportation Company The Lake Champlain Transportation Company (LCTC or LCT) is a vehicle ferry operator that runs three routes across Lake Champlain between the US states of New York and Vermont. From 1976 to 2003, the company was owned by Burlington, Vermont, bus ...

, this 88-foot replica was launched in July 2004 after three years of construction in Burlington. Its design is based on the ''General Butler'', a schooner wrecked in Burlington Harbor on December 9, 1876, and the ''O.J. Walker'', another sailing canal boat which sank in 1895.

Programming

LCMM conducts educational, boatbuilding, and boating programs, and hosts lectures, annual juried photography shows, and

historical re-enactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspect ...

events. An active education department offers classes ranging from on-water exploration to traditional crafts, and staff educators conduct wintertime outreach to area schools, visiting students in their classrooms and helping them learn about the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, 19th-century maritime commerce, and Lake Champlain's archaeological resources. Each winter, area youth organizations partner with the museum to build either a

Cornish pilot gig The Cornish pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat, clinker-built of Cornish narrow-leaf elm, long with a beam of . It is recognised as one of the first shore-based lifeboats that went to vessels in distress, with recorded rescues going back ...

or a Whitehall pulling boat. This program intends to help teenage students learn important life skills and develop an improved self-image through the collaborative building process.Granstrom, Chris, "Kids, Trees, and a Boat that Floats", ''Northern Woodlands'', Summer, 2001 Those boats are then used in classes and community rowing programs during the boating season.

Events

In 2005, the ''Lois McClure'' toured the lake and the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, bringing the story of sailing canal boats and the Northern Waterway to residents of the Hudson Valley and New York City. A similar tour was carried out in 2007 on the

New York State Barge Canal New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, the present-day incarnation of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

. Visitors were allowed to board and explore the vessel for no charge and talk to crew members about the boat and the history of the waterway. Some of the museum's regular annual special events are rowing competitions that are held in the spring and fall, and the ''Rabble In Arms'' living history weekend. On that weekend, historical re-enactors gather on the museum grounds to bring to life a significant event from the lake's past, and each year a different event is chosen. There is also an annual small boat show, and exhibits of photos taken by both amateur and professional photographers from around the region.

References

External links