Overview
 There is no more history-rich water corridor in North America than the beautiful Champlain Valley. For eight millennia — from Pre-Columbian time to the present — this great alleyway has figured large, first in the time of the Indian nations and then in the history of four world powers: Great Britain, France, the United States, and Canada. Our unique tour of this great confluence of waters between New York City and Montreal will revisit that rich past in stunning detail. It will take you to the great bodies of water that comprise its whole — the St. Lawrence, the Richelieu, and the Hudson Rivers, and Lakes Champlain and George. In the past 8,000 years the valley has passed through riveting stages, from pre-Columbian culture to the European colonization, which include the French and Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812.
Professor Thomas R. Mandeville of Clinton Community College, New York, who knows this area as well as any historian in the world, will take you to sites famous and not so famous and bring it all back to life. You will meet the great and enduring names in its history — Samuel de Champlain, Henry Hudson, Robert Rogers, Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, Thomas MacDonough, and a host of others. When your tour is done, the story of this great water corridor and the men and women who dominated it will be vivid in your memories. |
Day by Day
Day 1, Thursday, May 29 Gathering day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany, New York, for a welcome briefing and dinner hosted by Professor Mandeville and HistoryAmerica.
Day 2, Friday, May 30 This first day of touring you visit Saratoga National Historic Park, site of the battle that changed the course of the Revolutionary War. You will tour the battlefield and visit other key landmarks.
Day 3, Saturday, May 31 Today you visit battle sites of the French and Indian War around Lake George, the setting of The Last of the Mohicans. You will learn about Robert Rogers, one of the great American heroes of that war, and end the day at Whitehall, New York, where the United States Navy was born in 1776.
Day 4, Sunday, June 1 You will be at the French Fort Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga) today to revisit two wars—the French and Indian War in the morning and the Revolutionary War in the afternoon.
Day 5, Monday, June 2 You continue with the Revolutionary War, examining British General John Burgoyne’s campaign of 1777, and ending the day at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Basin Harbor, Vermont.
Day 6, Tuesday, June 3 You return today to Pre-Columbian times. Thomas Pray, noted war reenactor, will guide you through his extensive treasure trove of period artifacts, and Professor Mandeville will brief you on the Iroquois and Abenaki people.
Day 7, Wednesday, June 4 Today you revisit the War of 1812 around Plattsburgh, New York, where turning-point land and sea battles were fought. You will visit its various museums and historical sites, joined by Thomas Pray and his British gunboat, the Prudence, and her crew, which includes Professor Mandeville.
Day 8, Thursday, June 5 Your last day will begin at the French Fort Chambly in Quebec on the Richelieu River. You will discover the role it played in the three wars we have been revisiting, and end the tour at another three-war site, Fort Lennox, the last British fort built in North America. This evening your farewell dinner will be in Burlington, Vermont.
Day 9, Friday, June 6 Depart from Burlington or return on the bus to Albany. Plan flights from Albany after 1:30 pm. |
Thomas Mandeville