Adventure Camps Debut at Burlington and Vergennes with Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information contact:
Erick Tichonuk, Program Director
erickt@lcmm.org 802 475-2022 ext. 120
Thirty Years of Experience – New Adventures!
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) announces the launch an exciting new series of adventure education programs on the Burlington waterfront, in partnership with Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront. These week-long day camps, offered in June, July and August, will provide students ages 4 to 16 years old with unique summer adventures that combine regional history, traditional maritime skills, native and colonial life, nautical research, lake ecology, music, and shipwreck discovery. “LCMM’s Lake Adventure Camps will engage students with the Museum’s fleet of replica vessels, ecological and nautical archaeology expertise,” said Executive Director Mike Smiles. “These on-water and underwater discovery experiences go deeper than amusement, they are designed to inspire a new generation of adventure historians, scientists, and stewards of Lake Champlain.” Registration is now open, online at www.lcmm.org. LCMM looks forward to sharing their enthusiasm and excitement for Lake Champlain learning adventures!
Burlington-Based Camps
LCMM’s replica 1862 canal schooner Lois McClure is the base of operations for the Lake Adventure Camps on Burlington’s waterfront. The schooner will be on land at Perkins Pier preparing for restoration. The 88’ boat and accompanying facilities will be an extraordinary adventure camp site. “We’re really excited to have LCMM join us in offering high quality youth programming on Burlington’s Waterfront,” said Jesse Bridges, Director of Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront. “Their expertise in history, maritime skills, ecology and cutting-edge archaeology is the perfect combination to engage students with everything Burlington has to offer.”
LCMM’s professional staff of historians, archaeologists and ecologists will train and work with a crew of camp counselors to provide students with a safe, fun, and educational adventure experience. “We’ll use our fleet of canoes and longboats, as well as power vessels, to access additional lakeshore environments and an amazing array of shipwrecks, all within a five-mile radius of our base of operations,” explains Program Director Erick Tichonuk. “We’ll teach proper snorkeling techniques with the support of the professionals at Waterfront Diving Center so your student can have a personal in-water connection with the lake’s creatures and shipwrecks. We can even access deeper shipwrecks and aquatic life without getting wet using our Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) – we’re the only camps on Lake Champlain to have a robot on staff for your students’ adventure camp experience!” Once a week the Burlington-based programs will make a field trip to LCMM’s main campus at Basin Harbor outside Vergennes, Vermont, where 14 exhibit buildings and replica 1776 gunboat Philadelphiaprovide an incredible opportunity to explore the camps’ maritime themes in greater depth.
Vergennes-Based Camps
LCMM’s rural Basin Harbor campus occupies one of the Champlain Valley’s most beautiful and historic landscapes. Fourteen exhibit buildings, Archaeology and Ecology Learning Labs, Boat Shop, and metalworking facilities allow the Museum to offer in-depth and specialized adventures. Whether it’s the five-week kayak building and camping experience of Champlain Discovery, using foundries and forges in Heavy Metal Mania, or getting back to basics with Survivor Then & Now, LCMM offers some of the most unique adventures anywhere. A new shuttle service for some of the Basin Harbor camps will provide pick-up and drop-off in Burlington and Shelburne.
About Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Founded in 1985 with a mission to preserve and share the heritage of the Lake Champlain region by connecting its past, present and future, LCMM is known for world-class archaeological research, sharing underwater discoveries through exhibits and publications, and replica vessels. The Museum campus, with 14 exhibit buildings and a fleet of colorful, student-built rowing gigs and replica 1776 gunboat Philadelphia II at North Harbor, is open daily from 10-5 starting on Saturday May 30, 2015 through Sunday October 11, 2015. Schooner Lois McClure will be on view at Perkins Pier, Burlington, from late May through mid-October serving as home base for youth Adventure Camps. A new interpretive exhibit of Lake history adjacent to the schooner includes evidence that the historic waterway served as a corridor to freedom for former slaves during the nineteenth century. More online at www.lcmm.org.