Welcome from the Director

With today's circumstances related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this certainly is a challenging time. But it is also an exciting time, one that allows us to directly make the connection between our past and current events.

We chose to release the inaugural edition of this newsletter on August 18, the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. This momentous anniversary comes just a few days after the announcement of the first woman of color on a major party ticket for a national election.

The journey of suffrage is part of the historical fabric of the Champlain Valley, as is the journey of so many members of our communities. Among these is the Elnu Abenaki band that is working with the South Champlain Historical Ecology Project to help schoolchildren and adults understand Native American communities.

I have learned in my four years as Director of the CVNHP that historians love their anniversaries—and the CVNHP loves to help them celebrate!  This year we are commemorating the centennial of prohibition and the complex story of temperance, suffrage, and abolitionism. Next year, we will initiate planning for the Semiquincentennial of the American Revolution in the Champlain, Hudson, and Richelieu valleys.  

We kicked off our grants program in 2008, just in time to help our partners mark the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s 1609 exploration of the lake. Since then, the CVNHP has awarded 193 grants totaling $1.3 million. Remarkably, these projects have generated $2.3 million in matching funds!

The newsletter also comes one year before the federal authorization for the CVNHP will sunset—after 15 years—in October 2021.  With the Lake Champlain Steering Committee’s recognition of the importance of historical and cultural interpretation in fostering sense of place among our residents and to the health of Lake Champlain, we are optimistic that the CVNHP will be re-authorized by Congress.

You will learn about all these initiatives and more here in the Champlain Valley Heritage Times and on the newly updated CVNHP website. We encourage you to continue the journey with us! Did you like this edition? Did we miss something?  Let us know. We can try to cover it next time!

If you have other thoughts or suggestions related to the CVNHP, please reach out to myself or Assistant Director Jim Brangan.

Eric Howe, Director

Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership and Lake Champlain Basin Program

CVNHP Launches New Website

The CVNHP launched a new website this summer. The site features new and updated content highlighting the cultural heritage and recreational opportunities in the Champlain Valley and annual programming that focus on the CVNHP's interpretive themes. It also provides resources for applying for CVNHP grants and a catalog of past projects supported by grants. Several regional initiatives hosted by the CVNHP are also included, including Lake Champlain Bikeways, the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Reserve, and the Champlain Valley Wine Trail.

The CVNHP Region Copes with the COVID-19 Pandemic

Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, the Clinton County Historical Association & Museum, and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum are closed this year. Other large, marquee heritage sites, including ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Shelburne Museum, the Mont-Saint-Hilaire/Gault Nature Reserve, Fort Ticonderoga, and Vermont and New York state historic sites are open with COVID-related limitations. Check with each location for details when planning your visit.   

Learn more about the status of sites on the CVNHP Website >> 

2020 International Summit Will be Virtual

Some of the 2019 CVNHP International Summit attendees enjoyed the field trip around Missisquoi Bay in Québec. While this year’s summit will be a virtual affair, next year’s summit will be held in Saranac Lake, New York, on September 19-20, 2021. Photo: LCBP

The CVNHP will mark the tenth anniversary of International Summit in 2020. Each year, we convene dozens of partners, stakeholders and officials from Vermont, New York and Québec. The summit agendas usually include two keynote presentations that cover a two-year planning effort: the first pertaining to the interpretive theme for the upcoming year, and discussions to focus the theme for the the following year. The agenda also includes an overview of the recent work accomplished by the CVNHP and three “knowledge cafés” where attendees discuss how to best collaborate on the upcoming interpretive themes. The summits close with a CVNHP grant-writing workshop.  

The 2020 International Summit will consist of facilitated virtual knowledge cafes. These hour-long online discussions will have brief introductions and break-out sessions that focus on Partnerships, Values, Tourism, Recreation, Uniting NY-QC-VT, Education, Interpretation, and “Wild Ideas” for each topic.  

The topics of 2020 CVNHP International Summit Knowledge Cafés include:  

• Celebrating the Centennial AND the 101st Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage (Thursday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m.) The centennial celebration will continue in 2021! How do we best capitalize on what’s been done and coordinate our efforts to mark this event?  

• 2021: Prohibition, Temperance and Smuggling (Thursday, September 24 at 10:00 a.m.) The CVNHP will mark the 100th anniversary of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. The CVNHP awarded eight grants to mark this aspect of the "Corridor of Commerce" Interpretive Theme. Discussions will focus on how we can best utilize these projects and other opportunities to interpret the era of prohibition.  

• 2022: The 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act (Thursday, October 8th at 10:00 a.m.) How do we best commemorate the Clean Water Act—a “watershed” moment for the environmental movement and a legacy for water quality the Lake Champlain Basin and upper Hudson River?  

Register for the Knowledge Cafes >>

Women’s Right to Vote Centennial 

Inez Milholland, who is buried in Lewis, New York, led the woman suffrage movement.

Today, August 18, 2020, marks the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution! The CVNHP is proud to work with our partners to showcase, interpret and celebrate the tireless work of suffragists in the United States and Canada.

The suffrage movement had many setbacks and obstacles, so it is ironically fitting that commemorating the centennial of the 19th Amendment would happen in 2020.  The COVID-19 Pandemic upset the plans of the CVNHP-funded commemoration projects, but just like the suffragists 100 years ago, our partners will adapt and overcome. Here’s how they are doing it:  

• The Fort Ticonderoga Association in Ticonderoga, NY adjusted their plans for the Pavilion Collections Project, which will feature new research and interpretation on museum co-founder and noted suffragist, Sarah Pell. A new exhibit opens in 2021, with online content coming soon.   

• The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh, VT closed for the 2020 season, but they are celebrating some of the lake’s remarkable ladies in Women at the Helm online exhibit.  

• The Chapman Museum in Glens Falls, NY and partners have postponed their Suffrage Centennial Auto Tour of the Champlain Valley until 2021.  

• While most of their planned events have been postponed, the Friends of Crown Point State Historic Site will host a series of lectures and films at Crown Point State Historic Site on August 21-23, 2020.  

• Two of our partners, the Vermont League of Women Voters and the Shelburne Historical Society are persevering with their plans for 2020, with both groups developing interpretive displays for schools this fall. The CVNHP is a proud member of the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance, which is led by the Vermont League of Women Voters.  

The CVNHP team developed a series of interpretive banners that focus on the suffrage movement. Panels on the international movement; the symbiotic relationship between the suffrage and temperance movements; suffrage in each of the CVNHP jurisdictions: New York, Vermont and Québec; and the modern women’s rights movement will be featured outdoors to ensure “social distancing” at state parks and historic sites, museum properties, and town greens throughout August and September. 

If you’re interested in hosting these exhibits, please contact Sue Hagar to get on the schedule. Note: dates are filling up fast, so don’t delay!  

CVNHP to Release RFPP in Fall  

Core grant categories include local heritage, Corridor of Commerce interpretive theme grants, collections grants, and internship grants. These grants will be for up to $7,500, depending on the category. Special projects funded for up to $40,000 will serve the CVNHP Corridor of Commerce Interpretive Theme with emphasis on the Temperance Movement, the Prohibition Era, or Smuggling.

The RFPP will be issued on September 24, with proposals due November 2. The call for full proposals will be issued December 16 and due on January 25, 2021.

Watch the CVNHP website for an official announcement and further details. 

SCHEP, LCBP and CVNHP Team Up for Education!  

The Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership (CVNHP) is a program of the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP), so the two initiatives often intersect in the realms of natural and cultural heritage. The LCBP provided SCHEP with Education & Outreach grants for historical ecology projects in 2016, 2017 and 2018. 

The SCHEP grants were awarded to enhance local awareness and knowledge of cultural heritage resources in the south Lake Champlain area. The grants focused on providing informative presentations about the natural and cultural significance of the former Galick Farm on the Helen W. Buckner Memorial Natural Area in West Haven, Vermont, at elementary and middle schools in local towns; bringing groups of elementary and middle school students to the field to participate in SCHEP excavations, and meet with representatives of the Elnu Abenaki; and educating and training the increasing numbers of adult volunteers participating with SCHEP.  

Education and outreach efforts during the field seasons have been extremely successful. After three years of funding, the cumulative totals of public interaction are impressive: 484 area students received a presentation, 338 students visited the site and participated in research, 155 new adult volunteers participated in field work, and 177 individuals learned about SCHEP’s work through community presentations. The outreach work has paid off. Student feedback demonstrates a much more detailed knowledge of the work that archaeologists do, as well as more specific knowledge of Vermont’s prehistoric and contemporary native communities. Student feedback clearly showed that irrespective of grade level, their new level of knowledge of local prehistory was felt to be significant. 

A 2019 Collections Grant from the CVNHP enhanced the successful outreach work done by SCHEP in 2017-2019. The SCHEP 3-dimensional Imaging Project was designed to improve documentation of Precontact and Historical artifacts from the south Lake Champlain area and demonstrate the efficacy of applied 3D technology.  A total of 120 artifacts were scanned and 88 3D models were published to a free web-based forum where they can be downloaded for educational, outreach, and research purposes.  This work served as a pilot study for the development of permanent online database for 3D models of local artifacts.  As a result of this project, four undergraduates were trained in 3D scanning and Castleton University is creating a 3D classroom on campus.  The 3D classroom will be used to expand this initial project and will function as a training center to offer regional trainings for those involved in heritage management professions.  

By implementing cultural heritage education using traditional, effective methods and innovative, interactive technologies, SCHEP provides a model for other interpretive programs that work to promote and protect our historical and natural resources.