.jpg) Ticonderoga atShelburne Museum,Vermont, 2011 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Ticonderoga |
| Owner | Champlain Transportation Company |
| Builder | Shelburne Shipyard |
| Launched | 1906 |
| Out of service | 1950 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 892 tons |
| Length | 220 ft (67 m) |
| Beam | 59 ft (18 m) |
| Installed power | 2 × coal-firedboilers |
| Propulsion | Vertical beam steam engine,side-paddle-wheel |
| Speed | 17 mph (27 km/h) (14.77knots) |
| Crew | 28 |
Ticonderoga (Side-paddle-wheel Lakeboat) | |
 Postcard showingTiconderoga | |
  | |
| Location | Shelburne, Vermont |
| Coordinates | 44°22′31.6″N73°13′56.4″W / 44.375444°N 73.232333°W /44.375444; -73.232333 |
| Built | 1906 |
| Architect | Champlain Transportation Company |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000797 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 15 October 1966[1] |
| Designated NHL | 28 January 1964[2] |
Ticonderoga is amuseum ship and one of just two[a] remainingsidewheel passengersteamers with an intactwalking beam engine of the type that powered countless thousands of American freight and passenger vessels on America's bays, lakes and rivers for more than a century. Commissioned by the Champlain Transportation Company,Ticonderoga was built in 1906 at the Shelburne Shipyard inShelburne, Vermont onLake Champlain.
Ticonderogameasures 220 feet in length and 59 feet inbeam, with adisplacement of 892 tons. Hersteam engine, built by the Fletcher Engine Company ofHoboken, New Jersey, was powered by two coal-firedboilers and could achieve a maximum speed of 17 miles per hour (27 km/h) (14.77knots).
The ship's crew numbered twenty-eight, including the captain, pilots, mate, deckhands, engineers, and firemen to operate the boat. The purser, stewardess, freight clerk, bartender, hall boys, cook, waiters, scullion, and mess boys attended to passengers and freight arrangements.
Initially,Ticonderoga served a north-south route on Lake Champlain. Daily, she docked atWestport, New York, where she met the New York City evening train. The next morning she carried travelers and freight northward toSt. Albans, Vermont. In addition to passengers,Ticonderoga transported local farm produce, livestock, and dry goods on a regular basis, and during both world wars ferried U.S. troops betweenPlattsburgh, New York andBurlington, Vermont. Over the years she also operated on the east-west run from Burlington toPort Kent, New York and had a brief career as a floating casino.
When more modern ferries made her obsolete,Ticonderoga managed to persist in operation as an excursion boat for several years; however, by 1950 the steady decline in business threatened her future.Ralph Nading Hill savedTiconderoga from the scrap heap when he persuadedElectra Havemeyer Webb to buy her for her growing museum.[3] While theShelburne Museum attempted to keep her in operation, the steamboat era had passed making it difficult to find qualified personnel to operate and maintain the aging vessel.
In 1954 the Shelburne Museum decided to moveTiconderoga overland to the museum grounds. At the end of the summer season the boat paddled into a newly dug, water-filled basin off Shelburne Bay and floated over a railroad carriage resting on specially laid tracks. The water was then pumped out of the basin, andTiconderoga settled onto the railroad carriage. During the winter of 1955Ticonderoga was hauled across highways, over a swamp, through woods and fields, and across the tracks of theRutland Railway to reach her permanent mooring on the Shelburne Museum grounds.
Much of her interior was restored to its original grandeur. The dining room and stateroom halls retain their butternut and cherry paneling and ceilings their gold stenciling. The barbershop, captain's quarters, dining room, and promenade deck contain furniture and accessories used in theTiconderoga and other Lake Champlain steamboats.[4]
Ticonderoga was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1964 under the nameTiconderoga (Side-paddle-wheel Lakeboat).[2][5]
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Media related toTiconderoga (ship, 1906) at Wikimedia Commons
