by Art Cohn Returning to St. Albans Bay is always like returning home. I lived in Fairfield, just east of St. Albans, for 25-years and still own land on French Hill in St. Albans town. I began my career as a diving instructor at Hathaway Point teaching classes at Camp Kill Kare, a Vermont State park. It was at that …
A Final Reflection of the 2011 Farm, Forest and Fishery Tour
by Art Cohn The now familiar post-tour transition to winter is almost complete. The Lois returned to her winter berth at King Street and the Churchill is back at her long familiar winter quarters at the Shelburne Shipyard. We are developing a list of maintenance chores for these two hard-working wooden boats and hoping that the success of this year’s …
THE RETIRED CAPTAIN’S LOG
by Roger Taylor Captain Erick Tichonuk was kind enough to invite my wife, Kathleen, and me, two retired crew members of the Lois McClure, to join the vessel as volunteers for the last trip of the season, from North Harbor to Crown Point, and back to Burlington. We accepted really fast. The short voyage was planned so that the schooner …
Kingsland Bay
by Art Cohn I had been looking forward to our scheduled visit to the Vermont State Park at Kingsland Bay not just because it has great history and we had not brought the schooner there before, but because it is located in Ferrisburgh, my hometown. Well, Hurricane Irene hit the region just before our scheduled August visit and so as …
Welcomed in Westport
by Tom Larsen October 6, 2011 We returned to Westport this year for the third time. It’s a great place to stop, due to the always warm hospitality and wonderful scenery. Our hosts, the Carroll family who owns and operates Westport Marina, couldn’t have been more gracious. Despite this spring of record high water leaving a large part of their …
Port Henry
by Matt Witten October 3, 2011 Port Henry, former home of blast furnaces, dock wallopers, and most recently, of the Champlain Bridge’s new arch. Port Henry’s massive concrete jetty makes an easy target for docking, and sheltered both the Lois and our companion, the historic New York State Tugboat Urger, from the north waves. The town dock is only about …
Schuylerville
by Steve Pfanenstiel September 28, 2011 It was the best of times. In looking back on our time in Schuylerville, docked at the Hudson Crossing Park, I think we had a great experience. The community really embraced us; from the welcome BBQ on Monday night, to the constant deliveries of ice, food (especially the apple cider donuts!) and well wishes. …
Fort Edward
by Art Cohn September 23, 2011 We left Mechanicville and headed north to Fort Edward now confident in our ability to combine the Urger and Lois school programs. Fort Edward is one of those important junction points where the cliché about “location, location, location” is well illustrated. Its position on the upper Hudson River and to waterways leading to Lake’s …
Mechanicville
by Art Cohn September 18, 2011 The first stop of our revised “Farm, Forest and Fishery Tour” was Mechanicville, a beautiful waterfront community on the Hudson River-Champlain Canal. Like many other communities along the canal corridor, the towpath canal used to go right through the center of the town just uphill from the river on what is now Central Avenue. …
Whitehall
by Tom Larsen September 6, 2011 The trip from Shoreham to Whitehall was an experience in opposites. The weather threatened to be seriously stormy the whole trip, but despite this we saw some of the most variety of birds so far in the season – osprey, cormorants, bald eagles, kingfishers, the ever present gulls. Signs of Irene abounded as well …