Champlain and Rouses Point

Understand

Due to its proximity to the border, the area served as a staging point during the War of 1812. Plattsburgh, a city 20 miles to the south, had fended off a British-Canadian attack shortly after dawn on September 11, 1814, in the final days of the war.

The first, un-named attempt at constructing a U.S. fort directly on the border in 1816 became known as "Fort Blunder" as a surveying error placed the fortifications ¾ mile into Canadian territory. After the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 placed Island Point in the U.S. a second fort, Fort Montgomery (Lake Champlain), was built between 1844 and 1871. The guns from the second fortress were dismantled in the early 1900s.

Get in

By car

I-87, from New York City and Albany, terminates at the border crossing in Champlain. Immediately after the border, Autoroute 15 heads north to Montreal and the Laurentians. US-11 passes through both Champlain and Rouses Point, before becoming Quebec Route 223 northbound to Contrecœur/Sorel.

By train

• Train operator:

• Route stopping at Rouses Point:

• Adirondack operating daily between Montreal and New York City including stops along the way in Saint-Lambert, Rouses Point, Plattsburgh, Westport, Ticonderoga, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Albany (Rensselaer), Hudson, Rhinecliff, Poughkeepsie, Croton-on-Hudson, and Yonkers. For trains headed to Montreal, this is the final stop before reaching border control into Canada.

By boat

Get around

US-11 links the villages.