Those who love Lake Champlain and history buffs will enjoy the new book from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM). ‘Lake Champlain‘ is a pictorial history including early photographs of Lake Champlain, and is part of the Arcadia Publishing ‘Images of America’ series.

Lake Champlain
by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

Stretching  over 120 miles from Whitehall, New York to the Richelieu River in Quebec at the U.S./Canadian border, and covering a surface area of about 435 sq miles, Lake Champlain’s tranquil beauty disquises its rich, bustling history.

Bordered by New York’s Adirondack Mountains and the Green Mountains of Vermont, Lake Champlain’s waterfront communities recall the era when the Champlain Valley’s natural resources: iron, lumber, granite, marble, and potash were shipped to distant ports by lake sloops and schooners.

By the early 1800’s, Lake Champlain was connected with New York City and Quebec by canals and rivers creating an economic boom that lasted for more than one hundred years. Canal boats and barges loaded with apples, hay, bricks, and finished goods carried goods to markets in .

The arrival of the steamboat brought travelers and tourists drawn to the fresh country air, and lakefront cottages and camps sprang up all along the shoreline. Soon automobiles traveled over Lake Champlain on ferries and bridges.

“With 188 historical images from the archives of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and other regional collections, the book presents a self-portrait of this unique region as it was captured by area residents when photography was new.

Unlike the timeline expected in history books, the photographs themselves suggested chapters that reflect a more personal view of daily activities and special occasions in the waterfront communities of the Champlain Valley from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. And the museum has taken great delight in discovering that many images reflect the continuity of life on the lake across the generations.” ~ The Burlington Free Press

The 128-page softcover book features stunning historical images from the archives of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and other regional collections, and includes chapters on Patriotic Sites and Celebrations; Commerce in the Canal Era; The Age of Steam; Crossing Lake Champlain; Recreational Boating; Summer and Summer Folk; Hunting and Fishing; and Winter. ‘Lake Champlain’ tells the story of this historic, busy commercial corridor and recreational destination.

Other Featured Lake Champlain Books:

• Lake Champlain: An Illustrated History
• Crown Point / Chimney Point Historic Region
• Great Lakes Scientists Warn of Microbeads Threat
• LCMM Publishes Pictoral History of Lake Champlain
• The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire and the War of 1812