Why isn't Lake Champlain famous?

Why isn't Lake Champlain famous?

It's been a struggle for organizers of the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial to build momentum and national attention.

Other geographies in America are iconic: the Mississippi River of Twain and a thousand blues songs; the Southwestern landscapes of cowboy yarns and Steinbeck; the lush, Faulknerian world of the South and the Civil War.

So why doesn't Lake Champlain resonate? It's one of the cradles of North American history and legend -- or maybe one of the crucibles.

From Benedict Arnold's fierce battle near Valcour Island to the Battle of Plattsburgh to the bearing of John Brown's body to the waves of immigrants who burrowed deep under the Lake's shore in search of iron ore.

There's no richer landscape culturally. And the physical beauty is unrivaled.

And yet before I moved to the North Country, I had no sense of it. I knew of Fort Ticonderoga -- but didn't know that it was in the Champlain Valley.

War of 1812? Barely registered.

So what do you think? Do we need a great writer to bring Lake Champlain into the national imagination? What separates the iconic landscapes from the forgotten (or at least neglected) places?

Probably.I think some of the problem,if you talk to someone from a different state,is that most people don't even know that we exist up here.If you tell someone you are from ny,they assume you mean the city.Maybe a little more national exposure is what's needed.That's just my opinion.

does it really matter? We know it's famous and in my opinion that's all that matters. Who cares what other people think. I don't care if some richie rich from LA thinks it's not famous or if it is. I know..that's all that matters.

we have enough city people come though that most us local people cant stand, we dont need national exposure.

Wonder how many people realize that you can't get to New England from the continental US/Canada without crossing a bridge?
1) Atlantic,
2) Hudson or North River,(Flows South)
3) Champlain Canal,(Depends)
4) Lake Champlain,(Flows North)
5) Richelieu River,(Flows North)
6) St Lawrence River,(Flows North)
7) Atlantic.

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/blogs/...

I don't know.

sexynygirl wrote:

Why isn't Lake Champlain famous?
It's been a struggle for organizers of the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial to build momentum and national attention.
Other geographies in America are iconic: the Mississippi River of Twain and a thousand blues songs; the Southwestern landscapes of cowboy yarns and Steinbeck; the lush, Faulknerian world of the South and the Civil War.
So why doesn't Lake Champlain resonate? It's one of the cradles of North American history and legend -- or maybe one of the crucibles.
From Benedict Arnold's fierce battle near Valcour Island to the Battle of Plattsburgh to the bearing of John Brown's body to the waves of immigrants who burrowed deep under the Lake's shore in search of iron ore.
There's no richer landscape culturally. And the physical beauty is unrivaled.
And yet before I moved to the North Country, I had no sense of it. I knew of Fort Ticonderoga -- but didn't know that it was in the Champlain Valley.
War of 1812? Barely registered.
So what do you think? Do we need a great writer to bring Lake Champlain into the national imagination? What separates the iconic landscapes from the forgotten (or at least neglected) places?

He came, he saw, and left after killing a few indians where Ft. Ti sits. Not altogether a dramatiic entree for establishing a sense of presence. Besides, he was french and well before the revolutionary drama a century later where King George, aka, Lake George became his namesake and flirted with the British, making headlines at Ft. Ti through battles galore and much more earnestly repeated and glamorized than 1812 at plattsburg although Arnold's pyricc victory many years before, still holds the guts and bolts for slowing the british further southward toward Saratoga---so it may seem to me that Lake Champlain, full of sunken ships and relic, improperly sucks hind teat to its sister lake to the south but it will never be a national treasure for all to see. Just to common a waterway with another glorious history.

It does seem to take a back seat to Lake George whenever anyone speaks of the area. Maybe it needs to be featured on more web sites like http://www.lakegeorgenews.com and other site that provide information and interesting links about the area.

Lake Champlain is not marketed like Lake George, just as Ticonderoga isn't. Before anyone will vacation in an area, they have to know about it. That requires marketing. When compairing Lake George Village with Ticonderoga for natural beauty,Ticonderoga wins hands down. Lake George Village,however, has been marketed and has attracted developers who have turned the area into a carnival.Economic development control could take care of that problem while keeping the small town feel of the community. With the tenuous nature of the mill, it seems to me that the city fathers would be wise to start marketing the town and the two lakes. I know tourists are an aggrivation,but if IP leaves Ticonderoga, work in the service industry is better than not working at all. Like it or not, industry is moving south because of the mild winters, cheap labor and favorable tax structures of the southern states. It is not likely that a new industry will locate in Ticonderoga any time soon. Consequently, the political leaders of the community should promote and develop what they have in the area.

Most of the towns located on Lake Champlain were industrial communities. From coal to timber, graphite, ore, ect. Other than these communities vast tracks of Lake Champlain Shoreline are owned by railroads. They can not be developed. Weather or not you consider this a good or bad thing, boat down Lake George and except for the narrows most all of it is homes, many in the millions of dollar ranges. This brings money, development and exposure. Just my two cents worth.

First of all, the website below is just an advertisement disguised as a newsletter for a property seller.
Aside from that, one would have to be deaf and blind to not recognize that our area of Lake Champlain has been devastated by the IP paper mill and the orchards, farming etc. in Vermont. In fact, both should be made to PAY to clean up the ecological disaster that they have caused!!
Riiight. Like we'll see THAT in this century...or any century.
The last time I pulled a fish out of Lake Champlain, it look like something straight out of Chernobyl!! Very scary!

love the north country wrote:

Maybe it needs to be featured on more web sites like http://www.lakegeorgenews.com and other site that provide information and interesting links about the area.

ecological disaster wrote:

First of all, the website below is just an advertisement disguised as a newsletter for a property seller.
Aside from that, one would have to be deaf and blind to not recognize that our area of Lake Champlain has been devastated by the IP paper mill and the orchards, farming etc. in Vermont. In fact, both should be made to PAY to clean up the ecological disaster that they have caused!!
Riiight. Like we'll see THAT in this century...or any century.
The last time I pulled a fish out of Lake Champlain, it look like something straight out of Chernobyl!! Very scary!
<quoted text>

Then perhaps you pulled out an aging catfish, bottom dwellers all, bulgy looking eyes, gaping mouth, sucking formed lips built over the centuries to suck up the crap you propose and remarkedly a mirror image of yourself if you take a more objective view on the face you see staring back. Our fish are pure and eatable by all, without toxins nor sin. They all seem happy here.

There is a reason that the lake and the surrounding area are not "famous" - no one has been told that it should be. In other words, there is so much history here that has been overlooked, folks are not aware of the true significance of it. The discovery of the lake and the battle of Plattsburgh only scratch the surface of the historical value of the area. If the powers that be would stop trying to make Plattsburgh into "Little Montreal","Burlingto n part 2" or "SUNYville" and really start promoting the individuality of the area, the historical value of the area would become apparent.

well maybe there is a way for it to be publicized
that noone has figured out yet

Lake Tahoe is famous because it has GAMBLING, QUICKIE MARRIAGE CHAPELS, AND QUICKIE DIVORCES.
Lake George Village is famous because it`s got a BEACH and BEER JOINTS.
Lake Havasu is famous because it`s got a DAM.

All we have to do is build an Akwesasne CASINO/RESORT HOTEL/WEDDING CHAPEL connected to a QUICKIE DIVORCE COURTHOUSE at the Lower Falls in the Elk`s parking lot, dam up the creek just before the sewer plant, and and turn Bicentennial Park into a waterworld complete with beach, giant water slides which could be used as a WINTER BUNNY SLOPE/SKI-JUMPS OVER THE CREEK.
COST?=$10-20 MILLION DOLLARS- NO PROBLEM
[We already got the beer joints,so we`re already ahead of the game.]

WE NEED MORE ALIENS DAMMIT!!!!!

You rope a fewmore of them there intuguhlaktik frisbees and whoooooooooooo boy.....

The visitors will just keep coming......

You know.... like Elvis Fans to graceland.

Whoooooooeey Martha.... THATS A PLAN!!!