Lakes to Locks Passage links the historic waters of Lake Champlain and Lake George with the Champlain Canal and Hudson River to the south and the Chambly Canal to the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Rivers of Quebec to the north through four story-filled regions shaped by natural forces, Native Peoples, conflict, settlement, commerce, and tourism. Along this inland waterway, Waypoint Communities offer sites to visit, lodging, dining, shopping, and heritage centers that interpret the Four Lives of the region: Natural Forces and Native Peoples, Conflict and Settlement, Corridor of Commerce, and Magnet for Tourism. In Port Henry, within the Town of Moriah, a lakeshore bed of iron ore brought early importance before the American Revolution, and this ore was used for fittings on the fleet Benedict Arnold built to oppose the British in the Battle of Valcour in October 1776. Iron deposits west of the village later supplied growing industrial demand in Troy at the southern end of Lakes to Locks Passage, and Port Henry and Moriah produced pig iron for more than a century. That wealth remains visible in grand homes on Port Henrys Main Street and in the Italianate revival headquarters of the Witherbee Sherman Iron Company, now Moriah Town Hall. Port Henry overlooks Lake Champlain, the Green Mountains, and the Lake Champlain Bridge built in 1929, and its open bay, campgrounds, marinas, boat launch, and fish-filled waters support recreation. The village also embraces "Champ," the Lake Champlain sea monster, as its mascot, drawing both tourists and scientists hoping to film the legendary creature, whose reported sightings date back to Samuel de Champlain's exploratory venture in 1609.
