Who discovered what today?
July 29, 2014
Lake Champlain was discovered by Samuel de Champlain on July 29, 1609, during one of his expeditions to North America.
The lake was named after the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who encountered it in 1609. While the ports of Burlington, Vermont; Port Henry, New York; and Plattsburgh, New York are little used nowadays except by small craft, ferries and lake cruise ships, they had substantial commercial and military importance in the 18th and 19th centuries.
For some fascinating information about Samuel de Champlain, click this link.
The Champlain Valley is the northernmost unit of a landform system known as the Great Appalachian Valley, which system stretches from Quebec to Alabama. The Champlain Valley itself is a physiographic section of the larger Saint Lawrence Valley, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division.
Lake Champlain Ferry – Burlington, VT to Port Kent, NY
Gunsmoke and Knitting 
Beautiful pictures.
It’s amazing to think that the European discovery of the New World was followed by centuries of relentless exploration and discoveries. I don’t think schools cover any of that anymore which is a shame because people like Champlain traveled all over this continent before it began to record history and left records of their own travels to show what the place was like back when it was shiny and new.
How many still study the voyages of exploration in school and regard the exploits of de Soto, Magellan, Balboa and de Leon? I wish I knew. In fact, I’ll ask a 5th grader. 🙂
What an interesting time that age of exploration must have been. I still get a chuckle out of the American Indian who landed in Italy in the mid-twentieth century and planted a flag claiming it for his nation.