Anniversaries provide special moments to focus attention on historic events. In 2012-2014, we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the United States declaration of the War of 1812. To mark this international conflict, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has completed a four-month tour to Canada, New York and Vermont to engage communities with stories relating to that history. The dynamic outreach program presented the political, environmental and cultural stage of the War of 1812 and the cross-border conflict that ushered in 200 years of peace. The tour began with the Champlain Canal and continued west across the Erie Canal to Buffalo, NY to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Commodore Perry’s victory at the Battle of Lake Erie. We entered Lake Ontario via the Oswego Canal and then headed down the St. Lawrence River, stopping at previously unvisited ports of call in New York, Ontario and Quebec. We returned to Lake Champlain through the Richelieu River and Chambly Canal. Beginning in June and ending in October the tour encompassed over 40 ports of call. Many thanks to primary partners NYS Canal Corporation and the State of Vermont and sponsors Lake Champlain Basin Progarm, National Park Service, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership, and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
