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, Richelieu River, and Saint Lawrence River of Quebec to the north through a landscape shaped by natural forces, Native peoples, conflict, settlement, commerce, and tourism. In its second life, conflict and settlement, the interconnected waterway became the main travel route for European exploration and imperial rivalry. In 1609, Henry Hudson traveled north on the Hudson River and claimed territory for the Dutch as New Netherland, while Samuel de Champlain traveled south from Quebec and claimed territory for France along the Richelieu River and northern Lake Champlain; when Champlain and his Huron and Montaignais guides fought a party of Iroquois, two centuries of conflict began. More than fifty years later the Dutch ceded their territory to the British, who renamed it New York and pressed northward along the Upper Hudson River, Lake George, and southern Lake Champlain as forts rose and traders and settlers built communities at waterfalls and harbors, leaving Dutch, French, and English influences still visible. This waterway became a battleground of European powers during the French and Indian War beginning with the Battle of Lake George in 1755, then saw the American defeat of the British at Saratoga, often called the turning point of the American Revolution, and later the final battle of the War of 1812 in Plattsburgh Bay on September 11, 1814, an American victory that led to the treaty establishing the boundary between the United States and Canada and to two hundred years of peace and prosperity between the two countries. Military sites along this strategic route continued to help maintain peace in North America until the end of the 20th century, and the closing of Plattsburgh Air Force Base in 1995 opened a new life for the base including museums and recreation areas. One route within this history, the Road to the Battle of Bennington, begins at Fort Miller, a small British fort and protected storehouse at the Little Carrying Place where a Hudson River waterfall forced travelers to carry boats and supplies overland between Saratoga and Fort Edward. After the French and Indian War, William Duer developed the east side of the river with mills and a manor, but in August 1777 General John Burgonye used the Duer House as headquarters while trying to seize the Lake Champlain-Hudson River waterway and cut New England off from the rest of the continent. Delayed by shortages, he sent German Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum from Fort Miller to Bennington after reports of a weakly guarded supply depot, but Baum's horseless mounted infantry, along with British marksmen, Loyalists, and Indians of uncertain discipline, struggled through unfamiliar wilderness toward an ill-fated clash with American General John Stark at Bennington Battlefield on August 16, 1777.

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel