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Tuesday, September 7, 2021

South Hero to Alberg - The Champlain Islands

Sunday, September 5, 2021 

Hi Blog!

Our campground here in northeast New York, puts us close enough to explore the Champlain Islands of Vermont. Lake Champlain stretches more than 100 miles south from the Canadian border and forms the northern part of the boundary between New York and Vermont. Within the lake is an elongated archipelago comprising several islands—Isle La Motte, North Hero, Grand Isle, and South Hero—and the Alburg Peninsula. 

Our adventure started with a short drive north to Plattsburgh, New York where we boarded the ferry to Grand Isle, Vermont. All aboard!


The ferry crossing runs 24 hours, 7 days a week, year round. The crossing only takes 14 minutes since Grand Isle is only 2 miles from Plattsburgh. As one ferry leaves, another arrives.


Once we left the ferry in Grand Isle, we headed south toward South Hero. As we cruised down West Shore Road, we were treated to views back across the lake toward New York. In addition to our scenic drive, we were hoping to seek and find several of the mini-castles of South Hero.


For decades, gardener Harry Barber found a unique way to blend his native country of Switzerland with his new home in Vermont. He created miniature buildings from local Vermont field stone. Five castles, three houses, and several garden structures remain on the islands and they vary in complexity. We followed a guide from Lake Champlain Bikeway to see how many tiny castles we could find. We almost missed the first one, since a large hedge row block it from view. It wasn't until we turned around and tried a second time to find it that we saw it set back in the yard.


Some castles featured glazed windows, interior fireplaces, or dungeons. Others are wired for electricity and have the capability of running water in the moat. Many of his creations are on private property but some may be seen from the road. A few structures have sadly been dismantled and discarded as piles of rubble. As we approached the second castle, we couldn't linger since there was about to be a wedding on the property and traffic was picking up.


In our search for mini castles, we came across a bird house forest in a swampy area near White Beach in South Hero. The story behind this magical spot is one that began more than two decades ago and continues on to this day. The swampy area was filled with mosquitoes. Neighbors decided to build bird houses to attract swallows who love to eat mosquitoes. Today there are around 800 enchanting little houses in the swamp for the birds that eat the blood-sucking bugs. There are fewer mosquitoes and most of the birdhouses are occupied. The dinosaurs don't help much with bug control, but they are cute!


Farming is big in the Champlain Islands. There are over 100 different farming operations on the islands. There are three dozen vineyards and wineries and dozens of apple orchards. While it was a little early for wine, we couldn't resist stopping at Hackett's Orchard.


Nothing says fall like a flannel shirt and fresh baked apple crisp with an apple cider chaser!


Having satisfied our sweet tooth, it was time to continue our search for mini-castles. We didn't have to go far. This mini-castle was just a block away from the orchard.


The last castle was easy to find. These folks seem to embrace their quirky castle.


To celebrate finding four castles, we stopped at Two Heroes Brewery to celebrate. To start we ordered a flight so we could sample all five of their brews. To our great disappointment, we didn't find a single beer we actually liked. We left empty handed.


We continued our journey from South Hero north to Grand Isle. Along the way, we stopped to check out the Hyde Cabin. Built in 1783 by Jedediah Hyde, Jr., who surveyed the Grand Isle Area for Ira and Ethan Allen, who had acquired large tracts of land in the region. Hyde raised ten children in this cabin, and it was subsequently owned and occupied by members of the Hyde family for 150 years.


We took a scenic drive along the East Shore of Grand Isle before heading over the causeway to North Hero. The Hero's Welcome General Store is a favorite stopping point in the Champlain Islands. They have a big summer dock less than a hundred feet from the store, and welcome lake travelers. You can get here by car, bike, horse, ferry, seaplane, kayak and canoe!


Our next stop in the tour of Champlain Islands took us over to Isle La Motte to see Saint Anne's Shrine. In 1666, a fort and a chapel were built here to protect Montreal from attacks by the Iroquois Indians. Both the fort and chapel were dedicated to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. In 1668, the bishop of Quebec, François de Laval, came to Isle La Motte to baptize a number of Iroquois to Christianity. Even after the abandonment of the fort, the shrine continued to offer mass to worshipers. The grounds feature an open-air chapel, a meeting center, gift shop and cafeteria, a grotto, numerous statues and a beach.


The shrine was our last stop in our tour of Champlain Island, unless you count the quick stop at the little snack shack where tasty treats like dried fruit and trail bars are for sale with an honor box. We had hoped to visit the Isle La Mott lighthouse, but it turned out to be inaccessible.  

After fueling up with a date and nut bar, we continued north along the western shore of the Alburg Peninsula before crossing the Rouses Point Bridge back into New York. We were so close to the Canadian border, our cell phones welcomed us to Canada!

We had been curious about the Champlain Island since our last visit to Vermont in 2018. We had hoped to camp on the islands this summer, but we had to change our schedule. Now that we had the opportunity to tour the islands, our curiosity has been satisfied.


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