Citing opposition from environmental groups and the public, Lake Champlain Transportation Company and Vermont Division for Historic Preservation have announced the withdrawal of its application for a permit to sink the Adirondack, a retired ferry, in Lake Champlain. Instead of being abandoned underwater to create artificial interest for scuba divers, the vessel will be scrapped. [Read more…] about Champlain Ferry ‘Adirondack’ Sinking Plan Stopped by Opposition
Vermont
Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake
On June 22, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Vermont State Dairy Festival in Rutland. The Festival held a barbecue that day in the President’s honor. When it was over, they presented the President and his Presidential Party with a 150-pound ice cream cake. The cake represented a day’s work for twenty cows.
It was a gift from the Stewart’s Shop on North Main Street in Rutland. “Hap” Haapala was the store manager at the time. Plant Manager Paul “Perky” Robinson made the cake at the Stewart’s Ice Cream Plant in Greenfield, Saratoga County. Melvin Tuttle, the owner of Tuttle’s Bakery on Church Street in Saratoga Springs, was responsible for the decorations. Bob Gailor told me that his father, Wally Gailor, was a baker at Tuttle’s and that he decorated the cake. [Read more…] about Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake
Champlain Maritime Museum 2020 Season Focused On Women
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has unveiled a new logo, and announced their 2020 events schedule. This year the Museum is commemorating the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage by exploring female leaders in the Champlain Valley. [Read more…] about Champlain Maritime Museum 2020 Season Focused On Women
Autumn of 1776 Talk at Mount Independence
During autumn of 1776, Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga were being prepared by the American troops for the arrival of the British. At that time, the two garrisons made up one of the largest population centers in the United States.
An illustrated talk, “The Autumn of 1776: Making Preparations to Receive the Enemy,” by historian and site interpreter Paul Andriscin, has been set for Saturday, October 5th, at the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, Vermont. The program will run from 1 to 2:30 pm. [Read more…] about Autumn of 1776 Talk at Mount Independence
A Guided Hike Of Hubbardton Battlefield on Sunday
The Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site in Hubbardton, Vermont is set to hold their Fourth Sunday program on September 22nd. Site interpreter and long-time Revolutionary War reenactor Bob Franzoni will lead a guided trek around the battlefield from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. [Read more…] about A Guided Hike Of Hubbardton Battlefield on Sunday
Touring A Revolutionary War Military Road By Car
The Mount Independence-Hubbardton Military Road was built after the September 7, 1776, order of Gen. Horatio Gates to connect the Revolutionary War fortification being constructed at Mount Independence on Lake Champlain to Hubbardton, Rutland, and Fort No. 4 in New Hampshire.
Gates considered the road “so Essential to the Interest of the United States” and “the safety and protection of the inhabitants of all the Middle States of this Union.” Soldiers, ammunition, and stores used the road to reach the Mount. On the night of July 5 and 6, 1777, as the British invaded the lake, American forces withdrew from Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga along the road, engaging the British at the Battle of Hubbardton on July 7. [Read more…] about Touring A Revolutionary War Military Road By Car
Historic Clocks and Watches Afternoon at Chimney Point
The Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison, Vermont (at the Champlain Bridge and Crown Point) is set to host the Green Mountain Timekeepers Society on Sunday, August 11, from noon to 4 pm.
The Society’s experts will be on the porch to share the history of clocks and watches and how they can be repaired. [Read more…] about Historic Clocks and Watches Afternoon at Chimney Point
Hike Into History At Mount Independence
Mount Independence is located in Vermont, just across Lake Champlain from Fort Ticonderoga, for which it was a critical base of operations. It can easily be reached by the Ticonderoga Ferry, and offers a great way to hike into history.
“The Mount” was built in 1776 and 1777 by the Continental Army following their capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. A bridge was built to connect the cantonment on Mount Independence (and the road to Castleton) to Fort Ticonderoga on the New York side of the lake. Over 400 yards long, with more than 20 piers with 12 foot wide floating pontoons between them, the bridge allowed troops camped at Mount Independence easy access to the Fort Ticonderoga. [Read more…] about Hike Into History At Mount Independence
How To Weed Your Attic Event At Chimney Point
Chimney Point State Historic Site is set to host its first “Blast from the Past” program of 2019 on the porch. “How to Weed Your Attic” will take place on Sunday, July 21st, from 2 to 4 pm.
Archivists Elizabeth H. Dow and Lucinda P. Cockrell will share their insights and advice on how to “weed” your attic of junk, without destroying history. They will offer a presentation followed by questions. Attendees are welcome to bring items or photos of items to ask for advice.
[Read more…] about How To Weed Your Attic Event At Chimney Point
Green Mountain Boys in the American Revolution
Since 2016 the Green Mountain Boys Project have been researching the celebrated military unit, which lived and served along what was then the New York and New Hampshire border (in modern day Vermont) from the 1760s until 1779.
The Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen and his brother Ira, controlled the area of disputed land grants. Based at a tavern in Bennington, they evaded arrest warrants from New York State and harassed settlers from New York, surveyors, and other officials, often with severe beatings and destruction of their belongings. [Read more…] about Green Mountain Boys in the American Revolution