Samuel de Champlain

Reflecting on 400 Years of History

By Art Cohn, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

Samuel de Champlain could never have imagined that the lake he named after himself in the summer of 1609 would be celebrating that event 400 years later. Champlain, a French explorer who spent far more time charting the Atlantic coast and St. Lawrence River, was also the founder of Quebec City. His travels on Lake Champlain lasted only one month.

Poster promoting the 350th Anniversary Celebration of Lake Champlain

Champlain, however, was bent on exploration of territory that could be added to his list of assets for New France. Arriving from the north in early July, Champlain and his guides entered the lake in a fleet of 24 canoes. Remarkably, just two months later, Henry Hudson would make his famous journey up what was to become the Hudson River. Both explorations were to have profound impacts on the world.

By 1909, the region, which had been the staging ground for many significant historic events, began to reflect on the record of history. That reflection led to a region-wide commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Champlain’s arrival, which became known as the “Tercentenary Celebration.” The people of the Champlain Valley came together again in 1959 to celebrate the 350th anniversary. These celebrations involved cooperation between New York and Vermont. Additionally, in New York there was a combined “Hudson-Fulton” event celebrating the tercentenary of Henry Hudson’s exploration and the bicentennial of Robert Fulton’s steamboat Clermont success on the Hudson.

President Taft was among those who celebrated in 1909