Lakes to Locks Passage Scenic Byway - Whitehall - Whitehall, NY - National Scenic Byways on Waymarking.com

Whitehall, along the Lakes to Locks Passage Scenic Byway, is a link from the Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain, and has other history associated with it.

Whitehall is located where major roadways, Routes 4 and 22, meet. It is also where two major waterways meet: Champlain Canal and Lake Champlain.

The scenic byway for this page has the following about Whitehall:

"...Whitehall's history is interpreted at the Skenesborough Museum, located along the canal in the center of Whitehall.

French and Indian War veteran Philip Skene established Skenesborough, a vast 56,000-acre empire at the head of Lake Champlain, in 1759. Skene, a committed Loyalist, was in England petitioning the King to designate Skenesborough a Crown Colony when the Revolutionary War broke out. Skene's sawmills and the harbor and shipyards of his settlement were commandeered by the Americans to build the first American military fleet over the summer of 1776. The War of 1812 was fought farther north on Lake Champlain, however the shipyards of Whitehall again supplied ships for the American fleet. After the Battle of Plattsburgh, the boats were scuttled in Whitehall harbor. Today, Whitehall is considered the birthplace of the American Navy.

The local economy depended on the waterways. Boat building in the local shipyards brought skilled tradesmen and artisans to the village during the eighteenth century. Throughout the nineteenth century, goods-laden boats from Pennsylvania and New York City coming up the canal passed boats coming down the lake from Montreal and Burlington. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries brought silk mills to Whitehall, where abundant water powered mills that shipped finished silk ribbon and cloth to urban markets by canal boat, lake sloop or railcar."

We went through the Skenesborough Museum. It was well worth the stop. There is a diorama with a presentation that goes through the basic history of the area. There are models of boats that traveled on the lake. The museum itself is in a warehouse used for storage along the canal. And you can watch a boat go through the locks.

Other Sources:

DOT (National Scenic Byways - New York):
(visit link)

Program: America's Byways Website: [Web Link] Official Name: Lakes to Locks Passage Scenic Byway

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