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Mapping Champlain’s New World Exhibit at the Henry Sheldon Museum

Tuesday May 19, 2009

    The Henry Sheldon Museum celebrates the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s historic visit to Lake Champlain with the exhibit Mapping Champlain’s New World on view at the Museum through October 23.  An exhibit reception will take place on Thursday, May 28 from 5-7 p.m.  Samuel de Champlain was not only known as the founder of New France, he was also a skilled cartographer. In recognition of the Champlain Quadricentennial, this exhibit features a stunning private collection of maps chronicling the evolution of the Lake Champlain region, Vermont and the United States from 1640 to 1911. Visitors will see how successive layers of land acquisition and use were made manifest as mapmakers depicted European conquest and settlement. Maps express the cultural, economic and political ideals of their makers and of the audiences for which they were made. The exhibit will encourage the public to think critically about the meanings of the maps they see every day. 

   In conjunction with the exhibit, an official Quadricentennial program, the Sheldon will present a number of events in the summer and fall.  These include the Museum’s annual twilight history cruises aboard the Carillon on Lake Champlain on Tuesdays, July 14 and 21 at 5:30 p.m  Donald Thompson will join us on the cruises, dressed in period clothing, as he portrays Samuel de Champlain.  Don’t miss this opportunity to learn “first-hand” from Champlain about his first campaign coming down the Lake in 1609!  Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and beverages as the Carillon cruises along the scenic shores of Lake Champlain.  Boat leaves at 5:30 p.m. from Larrabee’s Point in Shoreham.  $30 ($25 for Museum members). Advance reservations are required by contacting the Sheldon Museum, 802/388-2117.  Visit the Sheldon’s website www.henrysheldonmuseum.org   to see a listing of other upcoming events.

   The Henry Sheldon Museum is located at 1 Park Street in downtown Middlebury across from the Ilsley Library.  Museum hours: May 24-October 11: Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sun. 1-5 p.m.  Fall/Winter/Spring: Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Research Center hours: Tues., Wed., Fri. 1-5 p.m., Thurs. 1-8 p.m. Admission to the Museum is $5 Adults; $3 Youth (6-18); $4.50 Seniors; $12 Family. For more information call 802/388-2117.         

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