Two countries share the enormous body of water called Lake Champlain.
This natural freshwater lake crosses the border between the United States and Canada, ending up in Quebec, Canada.
However, the bulk of the lake sits right inside the United States’ borders, crossing New York and Vermont.
Lake Champlain comprises a huge part of the Adirondack Park, covering the eastern sides of Essex County and Clinton County in New York.
The lake’s northwestern shore also serves the city of Plattsburgh, New York, while the eastern shore serves Burlington, Vermont.
When you go to the lake’s north shore, you’ll reach the town of Ticonderoga, New York.
Via the Richelieu River and the Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain also connects to the St. Lawrence Seaway.
This connection earns it the nickname “The Sixth Great Lake.”
Do you want to know more about this stunning place?
Here’s a list of the best things to do in Lake Champlain:
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Lake Champlain is a major part of the appeal of the Point Au Roche State Park, in Plattsburgh, New York.
While the park is mostly undeveloped, it has a lot of open space with thick forests.
Are you just visiting?
Then go to the park’s large day-use space with a sandy beach and picnic areas.
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Enjoy the lake through fishing and boating, or enjoy the space via volleyball or softball.
There are also 60 designated mooring sites in Deep Bay.
Besides lake activities, the park also has many trails for hikers and bikers to traverse.
The park’s Nature Center is also open year-round to the public.
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In 1975, the state of Vermont bought property along Malletts Bay at the northeastern shore of Lake Champlain.
They turned the land into the Niquette Bay state park, named after the indentation on Malletts Bay.
During your visit, you’ll discover 4,700 feet of gorgeous sandy shore along the park’s southern boundary.
After extensive farming in 1800s, Niquette Bay is now densely forested.
A flat sand terrace crosses the property, with tall long ridges rising to over 400 feet above sea level.
The terrace itself also carries a millennia-old brook that has formed Lake Champlain’s shallow sandy beach through depositing sand and silt into the lake.
Niquette Bay’s appeal lies in its hiking opportunities.
The family-friendly trail allows you to reach high points, where you can enjoy the view of Malletts Bay, the Green Mountains, and the Lake Champlain Islands.
However, the park is for day-use only, and camping is prohibited.
If you want to spend the night in nature’s embrace, visit Plattsburgh to go camping at the Cumberland Bay State Park.
Camp out under the stars and explore the 350-acre park to your hearts’ content.
The park offers plenty of recreational options, such as playgrounds and ball fields, as well as hiking and cycling trails.
Likewise, you can go canoeing on the lake.
Bring your RV to the park and set up camp on the numerous campsites.
During the day, you can play basketball or go hiking.
Then, enjoy a cozy lunch with your family.
Let the day wind down, and begin preparing for a night outdoors.
The park also lets you bring two household pets.
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The 253-acre park stands on a Ferrisburgh, Vermont bluff, sitting along Lake Champlain.
Various historical figures have visited the park.
These figures include Benjamin Franklin, who visited in 1776, Benedict Arnold in 1777, Samuel de Champlain in 1609, and Ethan Allen in 1776.
Before becoming a state park, the area was once a farm. Vermont turned the farm into a park in 1964.
You’ll find button-shaped formations from years of clay deposits on the lakeshore.
These formations gave the park its name.
During your visit, you can set up camp on the open grassy plains overlooking Lake Champlain, and sitting under the Adirondack Mountains.
You can also rent the park’s open, fully equipped pavilion that can seat up to 300 people.
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Near Lake Champlain sits the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.
The museum offers guests the opportunity to delight in unique examples of American art, design, and history.
Moreover, the museum wants you to explore the grounds for yourself, with 39 different structures standing on 45 acres.
Each of these structures also contains interesting and whimsical objects.
You can also play at the museum garden if the mood strikes you.
What else can you see in this museum, founded in 1947?
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You’ll find various works of American folk art, historic New England architecture, duck decoys, French Impressionism, and even circus animals.
These pieces form part of the collection of the museum founder, Electra Havemeyer Webb.
Mrs. Webb explored the countryside between New England and New York, stumbling upon several historic buildings that she ended up using for her collections.
Eventually, she moved them to the museum grounds, from a lighthouse to a jail, and even the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga.
If you want to get a glimpse of the American future, then visit the American past.
Visit the Shelburne Museum when you can.
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Located on the shores of Lake Champlain, Shelburne Farms spans 1,400 acres and educates guests about sustainable living.
Likewise, the farm continues to produce crops and food products, such as cheese, butter, and many others.
Moreover, Shelburne Farms is a National Historic Landmark, as a fine example of “ornamental farms” popular during the Gilded Age.
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The landscape architects Robert Henderson Robertson and Frederick Law Olmsted designed the farm during the late 19th century.
In 1886, Dr. William Seward Webb and Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb created the farm as a model agricultural estate.
Today, you hike along the walking trails, visit the children’s farm, dine at the restaurant, or stay at the inn.
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Are you visiting Plattsburgh and you don’t know what to eat?
Grab some good old American food at the Elfs Farm Winery & Cider House.
They also serve other delicious meals like poutine.
Likewise, the family-owned Elfs Farm Winery produces a variety of wines and hard ciders sourced from local grapes.
You can also visit their gift shop for Adirondack Coast-themed items.
The winery also sells beer-making supplies to help your brewery dreams get started.
In 2016, some industry professionals banded together to found Foam Brewers.
Their shared love for science, art, culture, and music helped influence their craft of brewing beer.
Likewise, they founded the brewery with the mission to “resourcefully create imaginative beers for enlightened palates.”
Foam Brewers prepares small batches of beer with various flavors.
They also like to change their beer lineup from time to time, creating new experiences every visit.
Likewise, the brewery offers high-quality cheese and charcuterie slates to pair with your drink.
Foam Brewers is at the Waterfront Park in Burlington, near Lake Champlain.
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The ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain is a science and nature museum located near Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont.
The center houses over 70 fish species, along with invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles.
Likewise, you can find the Northfield Savings Bank 3D Theater there.
Since 2003, the center has provided the public with memorable animal encounters and hands-on activities for the whole family.
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The ECHO building is the first LEED-certified Green Building in Vermont.
It’s one of only 70 LEED buildings in the entire country, and it’s only the third such building in Vermont.
ECHO also stands for Ecology, Culture, History, and Opportunities.
The North Star Underground Railroad Museum honors the fugitive slaves and the people who helped them escape through the Champlain Valley to Ontario, Canada.
During your visit, you’ll find various exhibits showing the hidden history of the Underground Railroad’s Champlain Line.
These exhibits tell the story of escaped slaves who sought freedom.
For example, you can find multimedia displays of the triumphant story of John Thomas and his family.
He escaped slavery from a Maryland plantation and established his own mountain farm in the Adirondacks.
Slaves who escaped through the Champlain Line passed the Upper Hudson River, the Champlain Canal, and Lake Champlain.
Its location on the slave escape route has made Lake Champlain into a Gateway to Freedom.
The main water attraction in Burlington, Vermont, is Lake Champlain, providing material for its residents with fertile imaginations for many years.
How?
People living around Lake Champlain have put up a monument to a cryptid named “Champ,” a dinosaur-looking creature that lives in the water.
Besides looking like a dinosaur, “Champ” also has a snakelike neck, a long tail, a humped back, a small head, and a set of flippers.
You can find the monument at Perkins Pier, near the harbor.
“Champ” has become a Burlington icon that the Vermont government has declared it an officially protected species.
Many businesses in Burlington have also adopted “Champ” as their mascot.
For instance, Champ is the official mascot of Burlington’s minor league baseball team, the Vermont Lake Monsters.
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This work of art from local Burlington artist Bren Alvarez also holds the world record of being the world’s tallest filing cabinet.
Comprising 38 drawers, the structure represents the number of years Alvarez spent accumulating paperwork for a local street project.
Many other artworks claim to be the world’s tallest filing cabinet, though, but this Burlington icon has as strong a claim as any.
Visit the monument to judge for yourself.
The tower is also a comment on the bureaucratic delays in building the “Southern Connector,” planned to link Interstate 89 to downtown Burlington.
The idea came about in 1965, although nothing came of it, even after 51 years.
All that happened was a change of name to the “Champlain Parkway.”
Knight Island joins Burton Island and Woods Island as the neighboring islands standing on the “inland sea” of Lake Champlain.
The State bought these islands in 1990 and turned them into camping destinations.
In particular, Knight Island spans 185 acres and stretches for a mile long and roughly half a mile wide.
The campground covers nearly all of the private land on the island’s southern tip, which spans 10 acres.
Just keep away from the island’s southern end to respect your neighbor.
During the 1980s, Knight Island became a primitive campground after being uninhabited for several years.
The island’s owners lived there themselves, where they started a timber management program to support the camping business.
Today, you can set up camp on seven spots scattered on the island.
You’ll need to book a water taxi, dock your own boat, or anchor off.
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The oldest light station on Lake Champlain is Juniper Island Light, which is also the oldest cast-iron lighthouse still standing in the United States.
In 1826, the lighthouse opened on the island, which replaced the old beacon with just a lantern and a post.
After construction, the tower stood 30 feet and lit the way for ships nearby the Burlington harbor.
The tower had become disused by 1838.
In 1954, the lighthouse got deactivated and replaced with a steel tower put up nearer the water.
Since Juniper Island isn’t open to the public, you’ll need to board sightseeing cruises to see the lighthouse from the water.
Popular culture now calls Benedict Arnold a traitor who got caught trying to sell out West Point to the British during the American Revolutionary War.
However, he had become a famous American military hero who helped advance their war effort.
You’ll find markers of his battlefield exploits at Arnold Bay on the Vermont shore of Lake Champlain.
Arnold had created a navy on Lake Champlain that deterred the British assault on Valcour Island.
Despite being forced to retreat, Arnold burned his remaining boats to hold off the British army.
His act of defiance kept the British army from establishing themselves in the area and gave the US army enough time to prepare a counterattack.
The historical marker of Arnold Bay is now partly underwater, but you can find another interpretive panel on Panton, Vermont.
You can visit the place and revisit the pivotal battle in 1776.
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Ready for a daring and strenuous climb while within the perimeter of Lake Champlain?
Lone Rock Point might be the place for you.
This limestone crag is the best example of a thrust fault, which makes it a geologically-relevant structure in the community.
It offers sports routes challenging enough for daredevils and scenic views of the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain beyond.
So, get your gear ready!
Lone Rock Point is at least a mile away from downtown Burlington near the shores of Lake Champlain.
Have time to meet wildlife while you’re in the Lake Champlain area?
Then, you might want to visit the Ausable Marsh Wildlife Management Area.
This 660-acre preserve is open year-round and offers a gateway into a variety of habitats.
These habitats include floodplain forests and sandy dunes.
Some of the common wildlife you can spot within this area include bald eagles, turtles, and other native mammals.
While you’re there, why not try cross-country skiing, too?
The Ausable Marsh Wildlife Management Area is on US Highway Route 9 in the town of Peru in Vermont.
Fisk Quarry Preserve is your go-to choice for a blend of historical and natural exploration.
This preserve, conserved in 1999 and designated as a National Natural Landmark in 2009, is a part of the Chazy Reef Formation.
What makes it an interesting stop is its collection of some of the oldest reefs in the world.
To guide you on your exploration is a walking interpretive trail.
This preserve operates under the Lake Champlain Land Trust.
You can get to Fisk Quarry Preserve via West Shore Road in Isle La Motte.
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Opened in 1959, Grand Isle State Park is one of the few points of pride along Lake Champlain’s shores.
Spanning 226 acres, this park is one of the most-visited campgrounds within the state.
And it takes the label of being the second-largest within the same area, too.
It features over 100 combined RV and tent sites and four cabin sites.
Not only that, but the park offers a variety of recreational activities, including hiking, swimming, fishing, and even boating.
There’s also a park interpreter onsite to help you learn more about the history of the place.
Grand Isle State Park is on South Hero Island in Vermont.
Both historic and recreational, Bluff Point Golf Resort is one attraction you should try while within the Lake Champlain area.
This golf resort takes pride in being the country’s oldest one of its kind.
Established in 1890, the resort shines a light on architect A. W. Tillinghast’s golf design masterpiece.
This site also once served the likes of U.S. Presidents William McKinley and William Howard Taft while on their vacation.
The resort’s sloped greens and a multiple-hole layout are only some of the site’s charming features.
Bluff Point Golf Resort also has a private sand beach and some canoes and kayaks for your water-based excursion along Lake Champlain.
You can find this golf resort on Bluff Point Drive in the city of Plattsburgh, New York.
Lake Champlain offers plenty of attractions, whether on the water or inland.
Venture far enough inland, whether in Vermont or New York, to find lively restaurants and bars or visit historical landmarks.
You can also just camp out on the lakeshore or paddle along on the water.
Visit Lake Champlain today!
Discover the world.
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