Burlington Breakwater | |
Location | Lake Champlain, off downtown Burlington, Vermont |
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Coordinates | 44°28′32″N73°13′33″W / 44.47556°N 73.22583°W Coordinates: 44°28′32″N73°13′33″W / 44.47556°N 73.22583°W |
Area | 9.8 acres (4.0 ha) |
Built | 1836 |
Built by | Dept of War; Whitney, Luther |
Architectural style | Breakwater |
NRHP reference No. | 02000711 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 6, 2003 |
The Burlington Breakwater is a breakwater providing shelter to the harbor of Burlington, Vermont from the open waters of Lake Champlain. It was built in several stages between 1836 and 1890, and is a rare example of a 19th-century timber-cribbed stone breakwater. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. [1]
The harbor of Burlington, Vermont is located near the center of Burlington Bay, which extends from Appletree Point in the north to Shelburne Point in the south. Set off from the city's port area, the Burlington Breakwater shelters that area from the broad waters of Lake Champlain to west. The breakwater consists of a main section 3,793 feet (1,156 m) in length, with a 364-foot (111 m) section to the north, separated by a channel 200 feet (61 m) wide. The structure has seven legs laid out in a zig-zag pattern, laid out to roughly follow the contour of the shoreline. Its visible portions are covered by a variety of stone materials. Its underwater structure consists of timber cribs, most laid on a rubble foundation, that are filled with rubblestone. The cribs are hemlock at the lower levels and white pine at the upper levels, and are joined by notched corners. Most of the upper levels of the cribbing have been replaced by stone because of subsequent rotting. The lake-facing side of the breakwater was largely faced in riprap in 1961. The ends of the breakwater are marked by modern lights. [2]
The oldest portion of the breakwater, about 1,000 feet (300 m) long, was built between 1836 and 1854, and consists of the middle sections of the present structure. It was built as part of a program by the federal War Department to improve shelter for the major port facilities on Lake Champlain. [2]
Near the breakwater's southern end lies the shipwrecked General Butler , which struck the breakwater during a storm in 1876 and sank, its passengers and crew reaching safety on the breakwater before she sank. It is now a popular dive site. [2]
The Union Station building is located at 1 Main Street in Burlington, Vermont. The building, last used by the Rutland Railroad as a railroad station in 1953, is owned by Main Street Landing Company, and houses offices and art studios.
The steamboat Ticonderoga is one of two remaining side-paddle-wheel passenger steamers with a vertical beam engine of the type that provided freight and passenger service on America's bays, lakes and rivers from the early 19th to the mid-20th centuries. Commissioned by the Champlain Transportation Company, Ticonderoga was built in 1906 at the Shelburne Shipyard in Shelburne, Vermont on Lake Champlain.
The Harbor Beach Lighthouse is a "sparkplug lighthouse" located at the end of the north breakwall entrance to the harbor of refuge on Lake Huron. The breakwall and light were created by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to protect the harbor of Harbor Beach, Michigan, which is the largest man-made freshwater harbor in the world. Harbor Beach is located on the eastern edge of the Thumb of Huron County, in the state of Michigan.
The National Harbor of Refuge and Delaware Breakwater Historic District encompasses a series of seacoast breakwaters behind Cape Henlopen, Delaware, built between 1828 and 1898 to establish a shipping haven on a coastline that lacked safe harbors. The Harbor of Refuge is at the mouth of the Delaware Bay estuary where it opens into the Atlantic Ocean, at Lewes.
The Burlington Breakwater Lights were originally established in 1857 to mark the ends of a low, detached, two piece breakwater 2⁄3-nautical-mile long which protects the Burlington, Vermont harbor from Lake Champlain. The breakwater is on the National Register of Historic Places, but the lights, being replicas, are not. The two lights were replaced and rebuilt several times as fire and ice took their toll. In the middle of the 20th century, the wood towers were replaced by steel skeleton towers. The City of Burlington arranged for Federal funding for replicas of the original towers which were activated on September 12, 2003.
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The Burlington Bay Horse Ferry is a shipwreck in Lake Champlain off Burlington, Vermont, United States. It is the only known example of a turntable horse ferry, a ship type that was common on United States waterways in the mid-19th century. The wreck is a Vermont State Historic Site, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Its location is marked by buoys in Burlington Bay between the northern end of the Burlington Breakwater and Lone Rock Point, and it is visitable by certified divers.
The General Butler was a schooner-rigged sailing canal boat that plied the waters of Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal in the United States states of Vermont and New York. Built in 1862 and named for American Civil War General Benjamin Franklin Butler, she sank after striking the Burlington Breakwater in 1876, while carrying a load of marble. Her virtually intact wreck, discovered in 1980, is a Vermont State Historic Site and a popular dive site; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The O.J. Walker was a cargo schooner that plied the waters of Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont. Built in 1862 in Burlington, Vermont, she hauled freight until sinking off the Burlington coast in a storm in 1895, while carrying a load of brick and tile. The shipwreck, located west of the Burlington Breakwater, is a Vermont State Historic Site, and is accessible to registered divers. It is one of the best-preserved examples of the 1862 class of sailing canal schooners, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The Phoenix was a sidewheel paddle steamer operating on Lake Champlain between the United States states of New York and Vermont and the British province of Lower Canada. Built in 1815, she grounded, burned and sank in 1819 off the shore of Colchester, Vermont. Her surviving wreckage is the oldest known example of a sidewheel steamer anywhere in the world. The wreck site is a Vermont State Historic Site, which may be visited by registered and qualified divers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
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The Navigation Structures at Saugatuck Harbor consist of two piers flanking the mouth of the Kalamazoo River on the shore of Lake Michigan near Saugatuck, Michigan. The structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Manistee Harbor, South Breakwater is a navigational structure located at the mouth of the Manistee River, in Manistee, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The breakwater is significant due to its construction, which represents a final stage in the United States Army Corps of Engineers's use of timber crib substructures in pier and breakwater construction.
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