Valcour Island

44°37′18″N 73°25′02″W / 44.62167°N 73.41722°W / 44.62167; -73.41722Area968 acres (392 ha)^[1]^: 6Length2 mi (3 km)Width1 mi (2 km)Highest elevation148 ft (45.1 m)^[2]Administration

United States

StateNew YorkCountyClinton TownsPeru, PlattsburghOwnerNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Valcour Island is a 968-acre (3.92 km²)^[1]^: 6 island in Lake Champlain in Clinton County, New York, United States.^[2] The island is mostly in the Town of Peru and partly in the Town of Plattsburgh, southeast of the City of Plattsburgh. It is within the boundaries of the Adirondack Park.

Description

Valcour Island, about two miles (3.2 km) long and one mile (1.6 km) wide, lies by the western shore of Lake Champlain, forming one side of a narrow strait against the New York mainland. Its shores are alternately rocky, craggy outcroppings and sandy beaches. Several protected bays provide anchorages. The Bluff Point Light stands on the western shore. It guided boats through the narrow strait from 1871 until 1930 when it was replaced by a steel tower.

It is the fourth-largest island in Lake Champlain. The only larger Islands are Grand Isle, North Hero and Isle la Motte, all part of Vermont.

The island contains part of an exposed Ordovician fossil reef, and was dedicated as part of the Chazy Fossil Reef National Natural Landmark in 2009.^[3]

History

On October 11, 1776, a naval engagement known as the Battle of Valcour Island between British and United States naval forces under Benedict Arnold was fought in the strait adjacent to the island.

Valcour was the site of several farms and summer homes (and one short-lived utopian community, the Dawn Valcour Society^[4]) from the nineteenth century until the 1970s, when New York State completed its purchase of the island. The island is now within the Adirondack Park, and is managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as the "Valcour Island Primitive Area".^[1]^: 6

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Lake Champlain Islands Complex - Draft Unit Management Plan" (PDF). NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. August 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Valcour Island". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
^ "Chazy Fossil Reef". National Natural Landmarks Program. National Park Service. June 28, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
^ R. C. S. Trahair (1999). Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 99. Dawn Valcour.

External links

Valcour Island information
Battle of Valcour Island
Valcour Island Heritage Trail Brochure

Protected areas of New York

Federal

National Historic Sites and Historical Parks	Eleanor Roosevelt Harriet Tubman Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt Martin Van Buren Sagamore Hill Saint Paul's Church Saratoga Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Women's Rights Kate Mullany House affiliated Thomas Cole affiliated
National Memorials	Federal Hall General Grant Hamilton Grange Statue of Liberty
National monuments	African Burial Ground Castle Clinton Fort Stanwix Governors Island Stonewall
National Trails	Appalachian Trail North Country Trail
National Seashores and Recreation Areas	Fire Island Gateway Upper Delaware
National Wildlife Refuges	Iroquois Long Island Complex Amagansett Conscience Point Elizabeth A. Morton Lido Beach Oyster Bay Sayville Seatuck Target Rock Wertheim Montezuma Shawangunk Grasslands Wallkill River
National Forests	Finger Lakes
Wilderness Areas	Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune

State parks
Allen H. Treman Allegany Amherst Amsterdam Beach Battle Island Bayard Cutting Arboretum Bayswater Point Bear Mountain Beaver Island Beechwood Belmont Lake Bethpage Betty & Wilbur Davis Big Six Mile Creek Blauvelt Bonavista Bowman Lake Braddock Bay Brentwood Bristol Beach Brookhaven Buckhorn Island Buffalo Harbor Burnham Point Buttermilk Falls Caleb Smith Camp Hero Canandaigua Lake Canoe-Picnic Point Captree Catharine Valley Trail Caumsett Cayuga Lake Cedar Island Cedar Point Chenango Valley Cherry Plain Chimney Bluffs Chittenango Falls Clarence Fahnestock Clark Reservation Clay Pit Ponds Cold Spring Harbor Coles Creek Conesus Lake Connetquot River Crab Island Croil Island Cumberland Bay Darien Lakes De Veaux Woods Deans Cove Delta Lake Devil's Hole Dewolf Point Donald J. Trump Earl W. Brydges Artpark Eel Weir Empire – Fulton Ferry Evangola Fair Haven Beach Fillmore Glen Fort Niagara Four Mile Creek Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Franny Reese Frenchman Island Galop Island Gantry Plaza Genesee Valley Greenway Gilbert Lake Gilgo Glimmerglass Golden Hill Goosepond Mountain Grafton Lakes Grass Point Green Lakes Hallock Hamlin Beach Harriet Hollister Spencer Harriman Hart's Brook Haverstraw Beach Heckscher Helen L. McNitt Hempstead Lake High Tor Highland Lakes Higley Flow Hither Hills Honeoye Hook Mountain Hudson Highlands Hudson River Hudson River Islands Hunts Pond Iona Island Irondequoit Bay Jacques Cartier James Baird John Boyd Thacher Jones Beach Joseph Davis Keewaydin Keuka Lake Knox Farm Kring Point Lake Erie Lake Lauderdale Lake Superior Lake Taghkanic Lakeside Beach Letchworth Lock 32 Lodi Point Long Point – Finger Lakes Long Point – Thousand Islands Long Point on Lake Chautauqua Macomb Reservation Margaret Lewis Norrie Mark Twain Marsha P. Johnson Mary Island Max V. Shaul Mexico Point Midway Mine Kill Minnewaska Mohawk River Montauk Downs Montauk Point Moreau Lake Napeague Newtown Battlefield Niagara Falls Nissequogue River Nyack Beach Oak Orchard Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills Old Croton Aqueduct Old Erie Canal Oquaga Creek Orient Beach Peebles Island Pinnacle Pixley Falls Point Au Roche Reservoir Riverbank Robert G. Wehle Robert H. Treman Robert Moses – Long Island Robert Moses – Thousand Islands Robert V. Riddell Roberto Clemente Rock Island Lighthouse Rockefeller Rockland Lake Sampson Sandy Island Beach Saratoga Lake Saratoga Spa Schodack Island Schunemunk Mountain Selkirk Shores Seneca Lake Shadmoor Shirley Chisholm Silver Lake Sonnenberg Gardens Southwick Beach St. Lawrence State Park at the Fair Sterling Forest Steuben Memorial Stony Brook Storm King Strawberry Island Sunken Meadow Taconic Tallman Mountain Taughannock Falls Thompson's Lake Trail View Two Rivers Valley Stream Verona Beach Walkway over the Hudson Waterson Point Watkins Glen Wellesley Island Westcott Beach Whetstone Gulf Whirlpool Wildwood Wilson-Tuscarora Wonder Lake Woodlawn Beach

State parks

State historic sites
Bennington Battlefield Caumsett Clermont Clinton House Crown Point Darwin D. Martin House Fort Crailo Fort Montgomery Fort Ontario Ganondagan Grant Cottage Herkimer Home Hyde Hall John Brown Farm John Burroughs Memorial (Woodchuck Lodge) John Hay Homestead Johnson Hall Knox's Headquarters Lorenzo New Windsor Cantonment Olana Old Croton Aqueduct Old Erie Canal Old Fort Niagara Oriskany Battlefield Philipse Manor Hall Plantings Fields Arboretum Sackets Harbor Battlefield Schoharie Crossing Schuyler Mansion Senate House Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion Staatsburgh Steuben Memorial Stony Point Battlefield Walt Whitman Birthplace Washington's Headquarters

State historic sites

Preserves and sanctuaries

Public preserves	Albany Pine Bush Forest Preserve Adirondack Park Saint Regis Canoe Area Santanoni Preserve wilderness areas Catskill Park Hudson River Estuary Long Island Pine Barrens Reinstein Woods Rome Sand Plains Tahawus Vischer Ferry Welwyn
The Nature Conservacy	Accabonac Harbor Andy Warhol Visual Arts Arthur W. Butler Memorial Atlantic Double Dunes Bear Swamp Calverton Ponds Chaumont Barrens Clintonville Pine Barrens Coon Mountain Deer Lick Denton El Dorado Beach Eugene and Agnes Meyer Everton Falls Freund Gadway Sandstone Pavement Barrens Hannacroix Ravine Henry Morgenthau Indian Brook Assemblage Ironsides Island Kenrose Limestone Rise Lisha Kill Long Island Center for Conservation Long Pond Lordsland Lower Poultney River and Saddles Marrion Yarrow Mashomack Mianus River Gorge Mildred E. Grierson Memorial Moccasin Kill Montauk Mountain Moss Lake Mount Holly Nellie Hill Neversink O.D. von Engeln Otter Creek Pawling Peconic Estuary Big Woods Pine Neck Roger Perry Memorial Ruth Wales Schunemunk Mountain Shadmoor Silver Lake Bog Spring Pond Bog Stewart Lewis A. Swyer Thompson Pond and Stissing Mountain Uplands Farm West Branch Whitbeck Memorial Grove
Other preserves	Angle Fly Baxter Bergen-Byron Swamp Black Rock Forest Brandreth Park Cornell Botanic Gardens Ferncliff Forest Great Camp Sagamore James Lime Hollow Louis Calder Center Louis C. Clark Sanctuary Mohonk Peabody Plotter Kill Sam's Point Svend O. Heiberg Memorial Forest Teatown Lake Reservation Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center Turkey Mountain Turner Brook Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Woodlawn Zurich Bog

Other (lists)
National Historic Landmarks National Natural Landmarks Botanical gardens and arboretums Nature centers New York City parks POPS WWI New York state forests wild historic sites parks wildlife management areas Trails rail trails