Museum Director to discuss archaeology of the American Revolution on Lake Champlain

The Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance is hosting a presentation by Chris Sabick, Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, at the Holiday Inn Resort, Canada Street, Lake George on Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m. Sabick will discuss research on the Revolutionary War and the October 1776 Battle of Valcour Bay in a presentation titled “Underwater Archaeology of the American Revolution on Lake Champlain.”

The event is free and open to the public. Those who wish to attend may reserve a seat by email at info@lakegeorgebattlefield.org.

Leading up to the 250^th anniversary commemorations of the nation’s founding, the Champlain Maritime Museum has concentrated its research on the American Revolution. Sabick’s presentation will include discussions of archaeological excavations at Valcour Bay and Arnold’s Bay and will include recent documentation and research on Benedict Arnold’s 1776 gunboat Spitfire.   

 “The archaeological study of the shipwrecks and battlefields of the American Revolution is helping to refine our understanding of these pivotal events,” Sabick says in a press release. “Archaeology provides a window into the past that is not readily available from historical documents alone.”

Chris Sabick has been with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum since 1999 and has served as its Executive Director since 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology/History from Ball State University and a Master of Arts in Anthropology from Texas A & M.

Sabick has worked with the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance since the early 2000s in the conservation of unearthed artifacts in Battlefield Park during David Starbuck’s archaeological explorations and continues offering his expertise by advising on the potential re-establishment of a Submerged Heritage Preserve in Lake George.

“The 18th-century military history of Lake Champlain and Lake George is deeply intertwined,” says Alliance President John DiNuzzo. “Chris Sabick’s presentation at Lake George is bound to expand our understanding of these two key maritime links over which so much blood was shed.”

Featured image: Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Director Chris Sabick/photo provided