Lake Champlain is the repository of well over 300 shipwrecks and submerged cultural resources that span over twelve thousands years of known human occupation within the Champlain Valley. These precious and irreplaceable archaeological resources are unique due to their contribution to the interpretation of people and history in the region. Canal boats are especially indicative of cultural life ways of the families that worked and lived on them from the early nineteenth century until around the middle of the twentieth century. The collection of material culture and artifacts from the Sloop Island Canal Boat is indicative of early twentieth century life for the family of this boar as it encompasses items and objects they used while living on board the vessel. Recovered, conserved (see figure 1), and exhibited at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) in Vergennes, Vermont, the Sloop Island Canal Boat collection provides a glimpse into the past of life on board canal boats.
FIGURE 1. SCALED DRAWING OF THE SLOOP ISLAND CANAL BOAT, VT-CH-843 (LCMM Collection).
FIGURE 2. PHOTOGRAPH AND SCALED DRAWING OF THE HUTCH DRAWER RECOVERED FROM THE SLOOP ISLAND CANAL BOAT WHILE UNDERGOING ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVATION (LCMM Collection).
FIGURE 3. SCALE DRAWING OF THE STANLEY LIBERTY BELL PLANE FOUND ONBOARD THE SLOOP ISLAND CANAL BOAT (LCMM Collection, by Gordon Cawood).