{"nrhp_refnum":"66000508","name":"Valcour Bay","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"7 mi. S of Plattsburgh on the W shore of Lake Champlain","address_restricted":false,"city":"Plattsburgh","county":"Clinton County","state":"NY","lat":44.622313203500056,"lon":-73.43912468454431,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1961-01-01","areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Valcour Bay is a historic battle site on the west shore of Lake Champlain, about four miles south of Plattsburgh, Clinton County, New York, lying between the shore and Valcour Island. It is the scene of the naval engagement of October 11, 1776.","why_significant":"Benedict Arnold's improvised American fleet fought a British fleet here under Sir Guy Carleton. Although the Americans were defeated, their presence forced the British to delay their invasion of northern New York. The delay gave the Americans time to prepare and to repulse the invasion at Saratoga the next year.","narrative":"Valcour Bay is the stretch of Lake Champlain between Valcour Island and the western shore, about four miles south of Plattsburgh, New York. On October 11, 1776, Benedict Arnold anchored a hastily built American fleet in this narrow channel to resist a larger British force under Sir Guy Carleton. The British sailed past the island and attacked; by day's end every American ship was damaged, several were lost, and the survivors slipped away through darkness and fog. Arnold lost most of his fleet over the next two days. The battle mattered because the American flotilla existed at all. Carleton had to delay his invasion while building up his own naval strength, then judged the season too late to continue and withdrew to Canada. The Americans used the extra year to prepare and won at Saratoga. The island is wooded and largely state forest, and the bay remains little changed. About 1,200 acres are included.","period_of_significance":"October 11, 1776","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, with the island and bay having suffered little loss of integrity. The Valcour lighthouse on Bluff Point is the only major visual intrusion, and a small state monument marks the mainland shore.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.686666-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/66000508_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000508/61d4ae58f0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000508/61d4ae58f0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daniel Case","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valcour_Bay.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Case</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valcour_Bay.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315669","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valcour_Bay","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q931949"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/clinton-county/valcour-bay-66000508/"}