Free Brochures, Guidebooks & Other Downloads

Below is a selection of free brochures and guidebooks that will help you explore the Lakes to Locks Passage. We have additional books and resources available for a suggested donation (plus shipping) from our shop.

Lakes to Locks Brochures

Lake Champlain Region

Working Landscape
Explore the working landscape along New York’s Champlain Valley and celebrate the region’s rich agricultural heritage as practiced by Native Americans to the modern era.

The Story of Iron
The Lakes to Locks PassagePort is your tool to explore The Story of Iron. Follow the audio journey and read the accompanying web content found here. You’ll discover cavernous mines, innovative blast furnaces, steam-powered forges, freight trains, and canal boats loaded with iron, crews of immigrant miners, and free-wheeling industrialists.

Lake Champlain & Champlain Canal Regions

The Turning Point Trail 
Follow in the footsteps of British General John Burgoyne, aka “Gentleman Johnny,” whose fateful decisions led to the turning point of the American Revolution. In the summer of 1777, Burgoyne began his campaign to seize control of the strategic Lake Champlain/Hudson River waterway and cut off rebellious New England from the rest of the colonies.

Download the audio journey and learn all about the people who traveled through this New York wilderness here. The tour guides you along 32 stops at key sites and museums, provides travel tools for driving and dining, and includes images.

Free Download of Waterways of War: Turning Point of the American Revolution. 

Find the book for purchase here. 

The Champlain Canal Region

The Road to the Battle of Bennington

The Road to the Battle of Bennington
The Road to the Battle of Bennington
Follow in the footsteps of German Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum on his excursion to the Battle of Bennington during the American Revolutionary War.

Explore The Road to the Battle of Bennington driving tour here. You will find detailed driving directions, audio and the history of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum’s historic march from Fort Edward to Hoosick, New York during the 1777 campaign of the American Revolution.

Lakes to Locks Books

Free Downloadable Books  – Visit our Shop to see printed edition books for purchase.

NEW! –The Northern Inland Passage – An Interpretive Guide to the Champlain Canal Region
Description coming soon!

From Forest to Fields: A History of Agriculture in New York’s Champlain Valley
This book leads readers through the working landscape in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Warren, and Washington Counties in upstate New York. A hardcopy edition of this book is also available for purchase. From Forest to Fields leads the visitors through the working landscape in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Warren, and Washington Counties in upstate New York. Along…

A Crease in the Landscape: Perspectives on the Working Landscape and Slate Valley of Lakes to Locks Passage
Millions of years ago, as these mountain ranges took shape on continental North America, a narrow band of slate, nearly eighty miles long, was formed along the Taconic range; creating the Slate Valley of Eastern New York and Western Vermont. When slate began to be quarried in the mid-nineteenth century, the slate industry, and the…

Nature’s Frolic Hour: Appreciating Lake George
This book showcases the spectacular scenery of Lake George, which taught Americans what it meant to be part of a new nation, full of beauty and promise. A hardcopy edition of this book is also available for sale. The spectacular scenery of Lake George taught Americans what it meant to be part of a new…

Northern Reaches of Lake Champlain: An Interpretive Guide to the Borderlands of Lakes to Locks Passage
This book highlights the history, culture, and beauty of the lakeshore communities in Clinton County, New York. A hardcopy edition of this book is also available for purchase The Northern Reaches of Lake Champlain: An Interpretive Guide to the Borderlands of Lakes to Locks Passage leads readers through the diverse landscape of Clinton County in New York,…

Relishing our Resources: Along Lake Champlain in Essex County, New York
This guidebook introduces you to the lakeshore communities of Essex County, New York. A hardcopy edition of this book is also available for purchase. Ancient cycles of plate tectonics and a sequence of ice ages gave birth to the present landscape. What you will find in the western Champlain Valley represents layers of geological forces,…

The Forgotten War: The Struggle for North America
Available for purchase from the PBS store, this one-hour documentary DVD tells the little-known story of how the native people of North America controlled the outcome of this war that defined our history as a nation and a people. FORGOTTEN WAR: Struggle for North America tells the little-known story of how the native people of North America…

Waterways of War: A traveler’s guide to the French & Indian War forts and battlefields along America’s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania
The super-powers of the 18th century — France and Great Britain — contested for empire and the destiny of North America along a strategic triangle of waterways in today’s New York State. A hardcopy edition of this book is also available for purchase. The super-powers of the 18th century — France and Great Britain –…

Waterways of War: The War of 1812
The third in Lakes to Locks Passage’s series of guides to battlefields and museums, this guide focuses specifically on the 1777 northern campaign of British General John Burgoyne. A hardcopy edition of this book is also available for purchase. In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, discover the historic events that…

Waterways of War: Turning Point of the American Revolution
The third in Lakes to Locks Passage’s series of guides to battlefield and museums, Waterway of War: Turning Point of the American Revolution focuses specifically on the 1777 northern campaign of British General John Burgoyne. The book is 56 color pages. Funding for this project was provided by the American Battlefield Protection Program. Grant #…

Community Partners Brochures

Biking

Adirondack Coast Bikeways
This guide describes 14 routes on paved and unpaved country roads in Essex County, New York. Find more bikeway brochures at www.champlainbikeways.org

Northern Adirondack Coast Bikeways
This guide highlights seven loops along the Lake Champlain bikeways network in Clinton County, New York.

Bicycling along Lake Champlain/Richelieu River Trail
This French and English brochure contains spectacular two- and four-day self-guided bike tours, with route map, points of interest, services, and amenities.

Champlain Island Bikeways
Five loops of the Lake Champlain Biking Network

Boating

The Narrows of Lake Champlain
An interpretive guide for boaters to the Narrows of Lake Champlain.

Walking Tours 

Plattsburgh
Willsboro
KeesevilleEssex
Elizabethtown
Port Henry / MoriahTiconderoga
Wadhams and Westport
Ironville
Ticonderoga
Lake George Village  – Colonial Wars (Online)
Glens Falls (Online Interactive)
Saratoga – East Side
Saratoga – West Side
Saratoga – Congress Park
Saratoga – North Broadway
Saratoga – Mineral Springs
Waterford – Historic Sites / Museums Downtown
Waterford
Cohoes – Downtown
Cohoes – Mastodon
Cohoes – Harmony Mills
Cohoes – Worker Housing
Cohoes – Erie Canal
Cohoes – Railroad

Hiking 

coming soon