Samuel de Champlain first recognized Lake Champlain as something more than just a big river, as he hugged the Beekmantown shoreline across from Isle La Motte, Vt., and rounded the bend at Point au Roche.

The largest single ground invasion that ever occurred in the U.S. was first engaged by a band of 250 regulars and 30-40 militia at Culver Hill after 11,000-12,000 British redcoats came streaming across the border from Canada in 1814.

Beekmantown’s full of history. It’s just that few people knew about it.

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