More than 125 years have passed since a canal schooner was launched anywhere in the U.S., but that’s going to change Saturday when the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum sets sail with the replica schooner “Lois McClure.” The 88-foot long boat is a painstakingly constructed copy of two ships that ran as cargo vessels in the late nineteenth century – the O.J. Walker and the General Butler, both of which sank in Lake Champlain and are now preserved as underwater museum sanctuaries.
Mitch Wertlieb talked with Art Cohn, Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, as the Lois McClure was going through its final stages of construction. (To hear the story, click on the “Listen” icon.)