December 29, 2008 Burlington to celebrate 400th anniversary of Lake Champlain Play video

(Anya Huneke, NECN: Burlington, VT) - In Vermont, December 31st marks not only the end of 2008, but also the beginning of a year-long celebration.

The state - and many independent organizations - have been preparing for the quadricentennial of Lake Champlain-- the 400th anniversary of the lake's founding by a French explorer.

Two days before new year's eve .. Sharon Radtke is slammed with last-minute preps for 'first night' festivities in Burlington, Vermont.

This year is a 'First Night' first, though. The city will be celebrating not only 2009, but also 1609- when French explorer Samuel de Champlain first laid eyes on this lake-

Sharon "I think people take for granted that the lake is there."

'First night' has joined the throngs of participants in the Lake Champlain 'quadricentennial'-- a year-long event in Vermont, starting New Year's Eve, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s visit to this region.

Art Cohn\Maritime Museum "Europeans were in an active exploratory mode.”

"This wasn't Samuel de Champlain's first stop... prior to coming here, he made his way through Canada- via Quebec City, which he founded while he was there. Then he headed South, with 60 men - most of them Native Americans - and arrived at Lake Champlain in a fleet of 24 canoes."

Art: "Pre-1609 it had been really a Native American home for 10,000 years." "Really 1609 interrupted that."

Art Cohn - executive director of the

Lake Champlain maritime museum - has immersed himself in the lake's history... and is excited others will do the same, through programs and events throughout 2009.

"We do use anniversaries to look back, reinterpret what went on-- was it good, was it bad, what are the implications?"

It's also an opportunity, Julie Silverman of the echo lake aquarium and science center says, to learn about the lake's evolution- which spans thousands of years.

Julie Silverman\ECHO "The history of the landscape starts when the glaciers were receding. That's about 11,000 years ago. People have been here hunting, fishing, inventing, exploring, for thousands of years-- that's the story that doesn't get told often."

And that's about to change, as the quadricentennial commission prepares to launch its year-long lesson and celebration-- recognizing the lake for what it was long ago... And more recently...

Art "Think about the interstate highway today- think about lake Champlain- that was its role for over 100 years."