Canal Schooner Lois McClure - Field Trip
Students handle lines
aboard the replica schooner Lois McClure.
Grades 4+ (maximum 48 students)
- Visit the forgotten lives of the canalers as you step aboard their home and business. Using the time capsule Lois McClure, a working replica of an 1862-class canal schooner, students will experience life aboard these unique working watercraft during this dockside program. Tour the cabin (living quarters), cargo hold, forecastle and main deck of the vessel. Discover what types of cargos were carried, crew living conditions, roles of children, hazards of canal boat life and towing and sailing operations.
Lake Sailor: Merchants and Mariners on Lake Champlain - Outreach
Chance and skill determine the outcome
in the Lake Sailor game.
1 hour 15 minute outreach program
Grades 5+ (maximum 25 participants)
- Our educator will present an introductory slide show of historical images describing life and business on Lake Champlain in the 19th century. Then teams of students form “crews” and “operate” their own canal boat on Lake Champlain, making decisions about where to travel and what cargo to carry. The outcome of their decisions and the weather will determine economic prosperity or bankruptcy.
The Canal Era on the Northern Waterway - Outreach
50 minute outreach program
Grades 4+ (maximum 60 participants)
- Students will discover the historical background of the canal boat era (1819–1940) in the Champlain Valley. Learn about the legacy of shipwrecks from the commercial period and how the study of sailing canal boats led to the creation of the historic replica of an 1862-class canal schooner, Lois McClure.
Canalers Afloat: The Champlain Waterway’s Unique Maritime Community, 1819–1940 - Resource
Click on the image
to see the Table of Contents.
Travel back in time to the dynamic era when canals transformed communities, commerce and culture in the northeastern United States. The revised edition of LCMM's canal era curriculum, written by historian and archaeologist Scott McLaughlin, is an exciting multi-disciplinary resource for elementary and middle schools (Pre-K–8) that can be used to teach history, archaeology, writing, art, music, geography, and math skills. Each of the 15 standards-based units features separate activities for Grades Pre-K-4 and Grades 5-8, using historic documents, oral histories, archaeological discoveries, and photographs. A dozen appendices put additional resources at your fingertips: chapter links to Vermont and NY learning standards, grading rubric, glossary of historical and nautical terms, timeline of events and inventions from 1800-1940, and more. Click on image to view table of contents.
Cost: 640-page education curriculum $40, plus shipping.
The Phoenix Kit - Resource
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In 1819, the steamboat Phoenix mysteriously caught fire during a routine trip down Lake Champlain. Six of the forty-six passengers lost their lives. Primary documents are used to study this dramatic event in Lake Champlain’s history. The kit also includes video, books, artifacts, maps, and more.
Capture the mystery of the sinking
of Lake Champlain steamboat Phoenix.
Cost: $20 for 2-week loan (delivery not included).