Fast Facts about the Adirondack Coast

Get quick and fun facts about Plattsburgh, Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Coast.

Plattsburgh

Plattsburgh is the largest city in northeastern New York with 20,000 residents.
Just 60 miles north of Plattsburgh is Montreal, QC, with more than 3.5 million people.
Twenty percent of area residents are of French ancestry.
The Plattsburgh City Beach boasts the 2nd longest fresh water beach in the continental U.S.
The Adirondack Coast is one of largest apple producers in the U.S.
Chazy, just north of Plattsburgh, is home to the largest McIntosh orchard in the world with more than 80,000 trees.
Plattsburgh has been connected with the military in one form or another for more than 400 years.
The Plattsburgh Air Force Base, closed in 1995, was the longest active military installation in the United States.

In 1609, on behalf of France, Samuel de Champlain first sailed the lake that now bears his name.
The first U.S. Naval battle was fought off Valcour Island, just south of Plattsburgh during the Revolutionary War, led by Benedict Arnold.
Lake Champlain is the 13th largest lake in the U.S., stretching 120 miles north to south with 600 miles of shoreline.
Lake Champlain is 12 miles across at its widest point.
A year round ferry crosses Lake Champlain, connecting Plattsburgh to Grand Isle, Vermont and Port Kent, NY to Burlington, Vt.
With a maximum depth of 400 feet, Lake Champlain features more than 80 species of warm and cold-water fish.
There have been hundreds of documented sightings of Champ, Lake Champlain’s own sea monster described as a creature with a long neck, thick body, 15-50 feet long, four fins and a long tail. Keep your eyes peeled!
Valcour Island, the fourth largest island on Lake Champlain, is home to a number of rare plant species as well as the largest Great Blue Heron rookery on Lake Champlain.
Twenty-one species of amphibians and nineteen species of reptiles have been identified as native to the Lake Champlain region.
The Lake Champlain Birding Trail is ranked by Audubon Magazine among the top 6 destinations in the U.S. for bird watching.
Lake Champlain was named the 5th best bass fishing lakes in northern US by Bassmaster magazine in 2017.

The Adirondack Park is the largest park in the mainland United States with more than 6 million acres – about the same size as the state of Vermont.
The park features more than 3,000 lakes and ponds, 30,000 miles of brooks and streams.
The Adirondack Park contains 85% of all wildernesses in the Eastern United States.
It’s the only park in the U.S. where large populations live within the park’s boundaries – with more than 137,000 year round residents.
The Adirondacks have the largest trail system in the U.S. with more than 2,000 miles of hiking trails.
Two thousand mountains are in the park, 100 of them are more than 3,000 feet
Lake Placid, NY, population 2,600, was home to the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games.
Whiteface Mountain is the only ski area east of the Rockies to have hosted the Winter Olympic Games.
An estimated 7-10 million tourists visit the region annually.