Exploring Historic Lake Champlain

On Sunday, June 18 we visited an interesting museum. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) is a non-profit museum located in Vergennes, Vermont. It preserves and shares the history and archaeology of Lake Champlain. As a maritime museum 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 Lake Champlain region. The museum had an interesting exhibit of Revolutionary War engagements involving the Continential naval forces and the British navy on the lake.

In 2000, the LCMM Underwater Archaeology teams formed what is now the research arm of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The team of archaeologists and researchers are regional, national, and international archaeological experts in research and policymaking as it relates to underwater cultural heritage. Access to the sites in the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserve is free of charge, but divers must register annually prior to using the Preserve System. I am intrigued with the idea of diving a historical wreck in the lake but don't think I could get Karen to join me. The cold water temperature is probably a no go for her!

From Button Bay State Park we traveled on Monday, Juneteenth (June 19) north and east to Lake Carmi State Park, Vermont for three days near the Canadian border. Our original booked site was too narrow and under the tree canopy so we spoke to Sierra, the park supervisor, and explained we needed sun for our solar system. She was happy to accommodate us and we moved to an overflow area near the day use parking which has seven campsites with open sky all day and a beautiful view of the lake looking west. The park is mostly empty which surprised us, but Sierra explained that they are rarely full because the park has no hook ups, no wifi and no cellular service. Amazing that people can't even unplug to go camping. Sounds like heaven on earth to me!

We had the entire overflow area to ourselves so I parked the trailer with the best view out our large windows to see the sunset over the lake. We were thrilled with our awesome location! Thanks Sierra!