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In the summer of 1609, French explorer Samuel de Champlain became the first European to behold the lake now known to be the sixth largest lake in the United States. Guided by Native Americans in a party of 24 canoes, Champlain encountered a 490-square-mile body of water, about 120 miles in length and dotted by more than 70 islands.

Celebrate the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial Event: Plan Your Vermont Vacation

400 years on, now bearing the name of its French discoverer, Lake Champlain and its surrounding valley still invite exploration by residents and visitors alike. With close to 600 miles of undulating shoreline, the lake offers endless opportunities for boating, swimming, fishing, camping, hiking, and biking. Vermont streams feeding into Lake Champlain — Otter Creek and the Winooski, Missisquoi, and Lamoille Rivers — are all scenic waterways worthy of further exploration.

Lake Champlain Activities and Attractions for Children, Families and Everyone Else!

With views of the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west, the lake is a vacationer's playground. An excellent kid-friendly place to get acquainted with the area is ECHO, which stands for Ecology, Culture, History, and Opportunity of the Lake Champlain Basin. Conveniently located on the Burlington waterfront, ECHO immerses guests in the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of past and present life in the Basin.

Another wonderful spot for children of all ages is the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Follow the Basin Harbor Road out of Vergennes to see actual boats that have been brought up from the bottom of the lake, along with replicas of historic vessels. Learn how to build your own boat or launch your own lake exploration in a rented kayak. Speaking of kayaks and canoes, the Lake Champlain Paddlers' Trail links access sites and camping opportunities for "human-powered" boats.

If you're a certified SCUBA diver, you can literally immerse yourself in the Lake and its history by visiting underwater historic sites established by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. To find out how to dive a number of shipwreck sites, visit the Lake Champlain Underwater Preserves page.

If sightseeing above water is your preference, drive south from Burlington and explore the paddlewheel steamship Ticonderoga and a real lighthouse at the Shelburne Museum. At nearbyShelburne Farms, you can explore a 14,000-acre working farm located directly on Lake Champlain. If you would like to visit other farms or enjoy a farm stay, check out the offerings available at theVermont Outdoor Guide Association website.

If your passion is biking, go to Lake Champlain Bikeways and click on Vermont Theme Loops. You can even bike while your luggage gets transported from inn to inn, by making arrangements throughVermont Self-Guided Inn to Inn Biking Tours. Many more suggestions for biking can be found at theVermont Outdoor Guide Association website also. To enjoy a bird's eye view of Lake Champlain,Vermont Sky Diving will take you up, up, and away!

Lake Champlain Accommodations, Campgrounds, Tours and Outdoor Activities

Make reservations to relax and enjoy the view from an Adirondack chair at one of many lakeside accommodations by visiting Vacation Vermont and get even more info from the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce. If you're aiming for a family-friendly Vermont camping trip, be sure to visit the Vermont Campground Association website. Elsewhere on the web, you can evenreserve your own campsite at Button Bay, Burton Island, or one of the many other beautifulVermont State Parks. Two bridges and four ferry crossings facilitate any number of options for day trips. What better way to enjoy Lake Champlain than a relaxing cruise via ferry? For complete directions and schedules, go to the Lake Champlain Ferries website.

Organize your own family birding expedition by using the popular guide Birdwatching in Vermont (by Ted Murin and Bryan Pfeiffer)which provides detailed maps to all the hot spots. Trips to explore flora and fauna of the area can be found through organizations such as the Vermont chapter of the National Audubon Society and the Vermont Outdoor Guide Association. Be sure to visit one of the area's many Farmers Markets to get fresh picnic provisions, breads, award-winning cheeses, and local fruits and berries. Several area breweries, wineries, and cideries provide daily tours, while others provide tours by appointment. You will find a listing on the Vermont Brewers Associationwebsite.

Explore and Enjoy Lake Champlain!

Each town bordering Lake Champlain will be celebrating the four-hundredth birthday of the Lake's discovery in many different ways. To learn what's going on when, consult Vermont's Official Champlain Quadricentennial Site for activities, dates, and times.

How to Find Your Ideal Vermont Wedding Reception Site

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The State of Vermont is ideal for weddings, offering perfect sites to fit every style, every budget, and every vision. Even lifelong Vermont residents are surprised to discover how many unique sites can be chosen for beautiful weddings, civil unions, and receptions.

The possibilities for your perfect Vermont Reception Site are endless . . .

Do you imagine arriving in a horse-drawn carriage for a service in a village church? Or do you picture an intimate ceremony in a tiny gazebo overlooking a meadow of wildflowers? Do you envision exchanging vows on a sunset cruise on Lake Champlain, with stars twinkling overhead as the celebration continues? Maybe your dream includes the splendors of Vermont’s fall foliage surrounding a white-tent ceremony. Perhaps you contemplate a rose garden overlooking a lake? Or a cozy lodge high in the mid-winter mountains?

Whether you’re looking for an intimate elopement, a nuptial package, white glove or classic country theme, you will find just the setting in Vermont. Without fail, that perfect Vermont wedding site exists for you.

In every season, Vermont offers the most exquisite settings. Fall foliage is the perfect backdrop for your celebration. Winter offers stunning scenes straight out of Currier and Ives. Spring is the essence of new beginnings, as green begins to dominate the hills once again. Summer luxuriates in glorious settings and scenery.

Nestled throughout the state, bed and breakfast inns not only present beautiful wedding sites but also provide accommodations for your guests to make them feel right at home. For example, the Northeast Kingdom’s Inn at Mountain View Farm provides an ideal setting to exchange vows in a rose scented garden with views of Willoughby Gap, or in a classic white-steepled church in nearby Burke Village.

To add an old-fashioned touch to your modern-day wedding, consider Roland’s Place, a 1796 house, inn & restaurant near Middlebury, or Stowe’s Ye Olde England Inne. Many perfect outdoor settings are available in the English style country gardens at The Stables & Inn at Pigeon Hill Farm in East Berkshire.

If natural settings are your preference, Jeudevine Falls Nature and Event Center near Hardwick can help you arrange a ceremony near the waterfalls. To arrange a service with all the trimmings on a Champlain cruise, begin at the Lake Champlain Ferries website.

Hartness House, Springfield’s historic bed and breakfast, offers gardens, sweeping lawns, a gazebo, spacious ballrooms and dining rooms, as well as award-winning chefs and catering teams.Boyden Farm is a fourth-generation farm in the Lamoille River Valley offering Vermont country-style weddings on a picturesque country farm setting, with their own winery on site.

The hills are alive with romance in every season at the Trapp Family Lodge, where you can have your ceremony in a wedding meadow, surrounded by mountains, or inside in the elegant Mozart Room. Here, as in many Vermont wedding locations, you may avail yourself of a wedding coordinator. Whatever your choice of location, you may prefer to leave most of the details to professionals so you can enjoy your day with no worries.

Of course, if you would prefer to skip the intricacies of a formal ceremony, elopement packages can be found at many locations., such as Gray Gables Mansion tucked up near the Canadian border.

In Vermont you will find the full panoply of services available to assist with videography, photography, rehearsal dinners, spa services, flowers, transportation, entertainment, catering, cakes, invitations, and every other detail imaginable. Vermont wedding reception sites are as varied as sites for ceremonies. A wedding filled with dreams come true. The perfect Vermont wedding reception site, it’s all here in Vermont.

The possibilities are endless.....

To get you started, here are a few sites to help make your dreams come true.