Lake Champlain features stunning mountain-scapes set in the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountain Ranges of New York. Visitors can get wholly immersed within the rich, bountiful flora and fauna of this region. Nature remodels the scenery of Lake Champlain four times a year. She paints it with vibrant hues in spring and fall and sparkles it up like diamonds in the winter.
Lake Champlain straddles New York’s northeastern border with Vermont’s northwestern border. A tiny part of Lake Champlain crosses the Canadian/U.S. border. It is a massive water body at 120-miles long north to south and 12-miles wide at its widest point. It has an average depth of 64 feet, with its deepest point is 400 feet, and it boasts 587-miles of shoreline.
Why Is Lake Champlain Famous?
Lake Champlain served as a vital and strategic military outpost during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. In the years of trying to work with international governments and wrangle with the Crown of England, Lake Champlain first became famous for military operations. One could take a two-week vacation to see military commemorations there and never see them all.
Military history buffs will find a treasure trove of historical sites in this region, with over 400 years of chronicled military events. Its time line begins with Native Americans and their first contact with Europeans. Bridges, buildings, historic sites, and museums lay scattered throughout Lake Champlain’s region. Some of the more well-known attractions include:
- Fort Ticonderoga, New York: Located on the western shore of Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga was a key strategic location during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The fort has been extensively restored and offers exhibits, reenactments, and educational programs.
- Crown Point State Historic Site, New York: Situated on the southern tip of Lake Champlain, this site includes the ruins of both a French fort and a British fort from the 18th century. It provides insights into the military history of the area.
- Mount Independence State Historic Site, Vermont: Located on the western shore of Lake Champlain, this site features the remains of a major American Revolutionary War fortification. It includes interpretive trails and exhibits.
- The Champlain Valley Heritage Network, Vermont: This organization helps preserve and promote the history of the Lake Champlain region. It provides information on various local historic sites and museums.
- Benedict Arnold’s Training Field, New York: Near the town of Plattsburgh, this site commemorates the location where Benedict Arnold trained his troops before the Battle of Valcour Island during the American Revolutionary War.
- Hancock House, New York: Located in the town of Champlain, this historic house was built in the early 19th century and offers a glimpse into local history.
- The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vermont: While not a historic site per se, this museum, located in Vergennes, focuses on the maritime history of Lake Champlain, including shipwrecks and naval history.
- The War of 1812 Museum, New York: Located in Plattsburgh, this museum offers exhibits related to the War of 1812, including its impact on the Lake Champlain region.
Why Is Lake Champlain Famous in 2024?
Lake Champlain is so important that it operates under a land trust, along with other official entities. The Lake Champlain Land Trust has received accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent commission of land conservation experts.
The oldest known fossil reef in the world calls Lake Champlain home. This reef is estimated to be 450 to 480 million years old. Its old age has led to the lore of a dinosaur still wandering in the lake. The accreditation program recognizes land conservation organizations that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever.
Seventy-one islands rise out of Lake Champlain. Some of the islands are protected and provide nesting habitats for waterfowl, like the common tern. Lake Champlain’s region supports 318 bird species year-round or at one time of the year or another.
Bass anglers consider Lake Champlain one of the top bass lakes in the Northeast U.S. About 90 species of fish swim through the thousands of coves and between the many islands. Anglers can fish from boats, canoes, kayaks, and from the shore. When hiking to fish, some trails offer shoreline access, some meander through wetlands, and some lead to inland sites.
Lake Champlain offers exhilarating summertime fun. Fun ranges from great public and private beaches, canoeing, hiking, kayaking, and paddleboarding, boating and sailing, and watersports. It has plenty of room for all types of boats. At Lakehub, we think the chief attraction is the nature and ability to feel like you are all alone in a flora and fauna paradise at Lake Champlain.
Is Lake Champlain Worth Visiting?
Yes, Lake Champlain surely is. It is a bucket-list must-do if you love lakes. It is open year-round. Over half a million people visit the Lake Champlain annually for its boating and fishing industry alone. Annually, millions of visitors show up at Lake Champlain all four seasons for the plethora of recreational activities.
Is Lake Champlain OK to Swim In?
Lake Champlain offers 587 miles of shoreline and dozens of public and private beaches, where visitors find hundreds of swimming holes and spots. The swimming season is Memorial Day to Labor Day, and most of its beaches are safe.
During the summer, many public beaches at Lake Champlain officials test their water for fecal coliform and E. coli. Swimmers at private beaches or other popular swimming spots that aren’t regularly tested should be cautious following heavy rain.
Analyzing water samples can take up to two days, so the most severe conditions may occur before results are calculated. Swimmers should steer clear of areas where streams flow into the lake for 24 hours following heavy rain. If the water appears or smells unusual, it is advisable to avoid swimming.
How Long Does the Lake Champlain Ferry Take?
There are three ferry routes on Lake Champlain:
- From Charlotte, Vermont, to Essex, New York.
- From Burlington, Vermont, to Port Kent, New York.
- From Grand Isle, Vermont to Plattsburgh, New York.
Some ferry routes are open 24 hours a day, and it depends on the season when they run the ferries. It takes from 15 to 30 minutes to cross Lake Champlain, and this is reliant on which route you take.
Can You Cross Lake Champlain by Car?
Yes, on the bridges or on a ferry. You can drive across Lake Champlain via the Lake Champlain Bridge, which links Crown Point, New York, with Addison, Vermont. Additionally, ferries operate between New York and Vermont at two points: Essex and Plattsburgh, New York. These ferries transport vehicles and passengers to Grand Isle and Charlotte in Vermont.
Super convenient traveling options through the Lake Champlain region await visitors. Bicyclists, drivers, and pedestrians can traverse the grand Champlain Bridge from Addison, Vermont to Crown Point, New York.
The Rouses Point Bridge, also known as the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, connects Alburgh, Vermont, to Rouses Point, New York, in the Champlain Islands region north of Burlington, Vermont. Constructed between 1936 and 1937 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds, this bridge carries U.S. 2 across Lake Champlain.
In the South, drivers can cross the striking South Bay Bridge from Whitehall, New York, to Dresden, New York. This bridge carries NY R 22 across the lake. Three ferries serve travelers and commuters at wide points on Lake Champlain.
Is Lake Champlain a Clean Lake?
Yes, and no. Lake Champlain usually meets industry standards for supplying drinking water, fishing, and swimming. The main pollutants are excess phosphorus runoff from farms, lawns, logging roads, parking lots, and roads. This phosphorus runoff can promote blue-green algae blooms, which can make the water green and is toxic to people and pets, and is more likely after intense rainfall.
What Is the Largest Animal in Lake Champlain?
The lake sturgeon is the longest living and the largest fish in Lake Champlain. The oldest sturgeon individuals can live up to 150 years. In 2024, that means that some sturgeons in Lake Champlain have been there since before WW1.
Due to their extended lifespan, a sturgeon’s reproduction occurs at a slower rate. Males generally reach sexual maturity between eight and 15 years old, while females mature between 14 and 33 years. Breeding is rare, with only 10% to 20% of Lake Champlain’s adult sturgeon spawning each year.
The largest lake sturgeon can grow up to seven feet long and weigh between 200 and 300 pounds. Most adults typically measure around four to six-feet in length and weigh between 30 and 80 pounds.
What Is the Creature of Lake Champlain?
The Lake Champlain Monster, Champy (or Champ), owns the distinction of having its own historical marker. Since 1819, allegedly, there have been three hundred recorded Lake Champlain sightings of Champy. Local lore has it that Lake Champlain’s namesake, Samuel de Champlain, was the first to see the lake’s legendary creature.
This French explorer’s journals reveal that the iconic Champy was possibly a garpike that his Native American guides showed him. The longnose gar can grow over six-feet long, presenting a long mouth full of vicious-looking teeth and silvery-grayish scales. (Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, 1878).
The first alleged sighting of a giant sea serpent in the lake happened on July 22, 1819, near Port Henry, New York. “At Bulwagga Bay, a man by the name of Captain Crum claimed to see an anomalous creature of monstrous proportions. He described it as a 187-foot long black serpent with a head that resembled a sea horse, as well as having “three teeth, eyes the color of a peeled onion, a white star on its forehead, and a belt of red around its neck.
Bulwagga Bay has since been called Champy’s “home base” due to the multitude of supposed sightings. Port Henry has capitalized on the legend by erecting a sign near the bay listing all reported sightings, as well as passing a symbolic resolution in 1981 declaring the lake a “safe haven” for Champ.
“The legend caught the public eye in 1873 when the New York Times reported the sensational sighting of an “enormous serpent” with reflective silver scales by a railroad crew, as well as an alleged sighting by a Clinton County sheriff.”
Sun Community News, 2017
“P.T. Barnum, famed promoter of hoaxes and founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, offered a $50,000 prize for anyone who could bring him the hide of the “great Champlain serpent” for his World’s Fair show in 1873.
Green Mountain Freeman, 1873
“In 1887 Barnum put up a $20,000 bounty for the Champlain “sea serpent”, dead or alive. He suggested that a search party with boats and Gatling guns be used, presumably to spray the lake with bullets until something longer than 50 feet floated to the surface”.
The Post, 1887
“These awards were never collected, however”.
Sun Community News, 2017
