Maritime History

It is always a quandary for us retired folks to decide what to do on a day when we can't get out on the water. Thankfully we have great museums around, and that's another reason we like this historical region so much. When the wind was "blowing like stink" from the north the other day, we headed to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at Basin Harbor in Vermont. We hadn't been there in about 10 years and although even back then we were impressed, we were even more surprised to see how far it has come with its displays. My photos this time are a bit smaller to take up less room on this page, but if you click on any of them, they will enlarge. Here are a few highlights from our afternoon visit:

A new addition to the museum is the Hazelett Watercraft Center. Below is their 1902 ice yacht Storm King that was used on Lake Champlain. They can go up to 5 times the speed of the wind. This gorgeous building is full of canoes, kayaks, rowing skiffs, and other wooden watercraft that were used on Lake Champlain.

These are two Lake Champlain 'Sailabouts' of which there were about 20 made.

This is Sunfish Hull #1, the first Sunfish ever produced! 

Next we were drawn into the Steam to Gasoline Building. I bet you can see why! The collection of antique outboards was donated by one man and lined the walls.

The wheelhouse, doors, and dinnerware were from the 200 ft. long steamer Reindeer. Seeing these bits and pieces reminded me of the Titanic.

The Nautical Archeology Center housed many artifacts from the American Revolution on the lake and told stories of historic shipwrecks. This cannon and the remains of its carriage were found very close to Valcour Island.

Out on the docks is the Philadelphia II, which is a replica gunboat built at the Maritime Museum.

It was very rough in the bay and out on the big lake. It is hard to tell, but the floating docks were moving so much that I had a hard time getting out to the boat. Those are Lake Champlain Longboats on the left side.

The Rhinehart Blacksmithing Arts Center and metal shop are where classes are held for kids wanting to cast metals, including tin, copper, and bronze. They get to make and bring home their own knives by the end of the class. From what I have read it's really hard work.

The Blacksmith Shop is where the iron fittings for the Philadelphia II were forged. Notice the big bellows on the left.

The Boat Shop and Boat Shed were busy with activities and projects.

There was a class in session where the kids build their own wooden kayaks. When completed they load it with gear and travel from South Bay all the way to Burlington. I believe the trip takes about 10 days. There were also real young children participating in summer camp. What a great sight to see the youth so active in these projects!

On our way out, I couldn't resist getting photos of these Pyrex bowls on display. We grew up with the mixing bowls and my mother still had hers until her house was sold.

This display had to do with an introduction to the program being held on the educational ship Lois McClure that was built in Burlington. We followed the progress of this replica sailing canal boat as it was being built and were on hand when it was launched in 2004. This summer it has teamed up with the Corning Museum of Glass's GlassBarge to retrace the move of the Flint Glass Works from Brooklyn to Corning, NY, where it became Corning Glass Works. On board there will be exhibits and displays of actual glassblowing.

We even have one of these old TVs in our cellar, and ours has a magnifier on the front. I guess we have even more historical items than we thought!

Solo

Dave made arrangements to go to Lake Champlain with Jim on their Sea Doos, but since it was so calm, I opted to go kayaking. Only the van has a trailer hitch and of course carries the kayaks too, so my only option was to use the hand dolly and bring the red kayak 'Romine' down to the unimproved Tin Pan Alley canoe/kayak launch (and unimproved it is right now...I could barely it get to the water's edge with all the high weeds and grass). This is at the extreme north end of the lake, which is officially known as the Outlet, since it flows to the La Chute Falls and River, but we call it the Pond. Except for the residents along this shallow body of water, there is never any boat traffic. I headed south into the main part of the lake and went all the way to Prisoners' Island. This is more of a rock with some trees and I know there must be history with a name like that, but how many prisoners could fit on this tiny piece of land?

My timing was perfect with barely another soul on the water at this end of the lake. As I paddled back north and passed by the Mossy Point State Boat Launch, I stopped to take photos of the remains of three different underwater barges that Dave and I discovered recently. They all look like the photo below and we are presuming that they are the bottom of barges used in the 1800s for the transport of graphite, which is what Ticonderoga is known for (I am sure everyone remembers the pencils we all used with Ticonderoga on them).

As I scooted around the rocks that separate the main lake from the Pond, I was naturally looking ahead and down in the water so I wouldn't run aground.

That's when I heard all sorts of strange splashes and gurgling and looked up to see, yup, more turtles! I must have startled them and they were sliding into the water. These ones were huge. After I passed by, I was surrounded by little heads popping out of the water and giving me the evil eye.

With still no water traffic, I went to the end of the lake. Usually the current is strong here as it heads to the falls, but today it was undetectable.

End of the line and the end of a great morning on the water.

And Dave had fun too! He said it was so calm that it was one of the best rides he has ever had on Lake Champlain. They went from the Port Henry Boat Launch Ramp, all the way up to Essex, NY and across to the Vermont side too. 

Once again, whether we are together or apart, we certainly are diverse!

Cannons And More

A few days ago, before the rains came, we went to Ft. Ticonderoga to renew our Ambassador passes that allows locals to get in the fort for free. We were just in time for the cannon exhibition, including firing of one of the smaller ones. Each year the fort features a particular year, and this time the soldiers were re-enacting from the Canadian Navy era in 1781. They gave a great talk about the procedure, how many people it took to set off one cannon, all the different commands that were given, and even passed around the different types of ammunition.

Ready...

Aim...

Fire!

What a gorgeous day and view.

They certainly have lots of different kinds of cannons on display and these are only a few of them.

We'll be back for a longer, more detailed tour of the fort, but before we left we went to the King's Garden, my favorite part of the grounds. 

The Pavilion is being restored and we are anxious to see how it turns out.

There is now a boatbuilding project going on in this part of the property, plus a building to house the boats is being constructed.

This boat will be the perfect size for rowing up the La Chute River.

This gazebo is a beautiful accent to the overlook of Lake Champlain and the tour boat Carillion.

One of the entrances to the garden has a bell like ours!

The flowers weren't in total bloom yet but still pretty.

What a gorgeous historical place, pretty much right on our own backyard!

And So It Begins

Summer officially started on June 21st, but on Lake George it began on the 22nd at about 1 PM. That's when it seemed like all the boat traffic picked up and kids were out being pulled in tubes, making huge wakes. Earlier in the day though, we had a marvelous ride in Moxie down towards Hulett's Landing and the islands surrounding it. Not a boat or wake around but ours...

The island near Gull Bay didn't have quite as many turtles on it today.

We 'threaded the needle' in the Harbor Islands, reminding us of the Thousand Islands and the Rift. 

On the east side is this cute little chapel.

We anchored for lunch on the west side of the lake in a cove only big enough for one boat...and a bunch of our own turtles. They were nervous to climb out on the rocks at first, but then realized we weren't a threat, dragging themselves out. 

This little guy kept coming over to the boat and doing circles before realizing we weren't a place he could climb onto.

Life is rough for Carol and chilly for Dave who took his first swim of the season in 70 degree water. Of course that temp is at the surface with a thermocline of about 65 a few inches below that.

It was super calm until the boats started zooming by, making wakes to wash the turtles off the rocks and us out of the cove back north. On the tour back north we cruised by the Hackercraft workshop. It's like a step back in time seeing the wooden boats that Lake George is known for (we wish there were more plying the waters here). It looked like one was even getting a new engine.

It's now summer and we'll have to be up and out early before the crowds. Our serenity sure was nice while it lasted though and will return after Labor Day. And so it begins!

Gathering No Moss

" A rolling stone gathers no moss" should be our motto. We are now back up in Ticonderoga, where we had a fantastic kayaking adventure at Eagle Lake. In fact we had an adventure before we even ventured out into the lake, by attempting to paddle through the lily pads of the creek that that flows out of the lake. It is extremely shallow and choked with plants that have big root systems. I led the way and Dave followed, and we actually made it to the dam that controls the level of the lake.

Normally water is going over the dam, but right now it is about 6" below the dam boards and the creek below it is dry in places.

Retracing our path back through the lily pads, a male duck came out "fly walking" on the water, screaming to alert us to stay away from its nest.

Meanwhile two of the ducklings escaped and the mother swam out and had to round them up while she too hollered. She kept going in the same direction as us and in the deepest water (about 6"), which of course we needed to be in. Eventually they veered off into the reeds at a wide part in the creek.

We made it back out into the western part of the lake...

In this part of the lake, the camps can only be accessed by boat. No moss grows on us, but it sure does here where there isn't much sun.

Every year a couple from NJ spends the summer off the grid at their camp. They even have a mailbox at the launch ramp.

I love how this cedar tree grew.

The glacial topography is amazing with the mountains rising up from the water.

Heading to the main part of the lake we went under the Rt. 74 bridge. The only thing we don't like about paddling here is that you can hear the traffic all the time, especially the tractor trailers and log trucks. Luckily nothing was passing overhead when we went under.

The noise and vibrations must not bother the swallows because there are all sorts of nests. This one was packed with babies.

We didn't see any beavers or loons today, but saw this cute little muskrat that jumped in the water as we passed by.

What a great wildlife adventure and once again we had the lake to ourselves!