Champlain and Rouses Point

Champlain and Rouses Point are a pair of adjacent villages in Northern New York on the U.S.-Canada border. The villages, 20 miles (30 km) north of Plattsburgh and 40 miles (60 km) south of Montreal, are the northernmost in the state of New York.

Understand

Fort Montgomery, the second fortress at Rouses Point

Due to its proximity to the border, the area served as a staging point during the War of 1812. Plattsburgh, a city 20 miles to the south, had fended off a British-Canadian attack shortly after dawn on September 11, 1814, in the final days of the war.

The first, un-named attempt at constructing a U.S. fort directly on the border in 1816 became known as "Fort Blunder" as a surveying error placed the fortifications ¾ mile into Canadian territory. After the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 placed Island Point in the U.S. a second fort, Fort Montgomery (Lake Champlain), was built between 1844 and 1871. The guns from the second fortress were dismantled in the early 1900s.

Get in

Delaware & Hudson railroad station

By car

I-87, from New York City and Albany, terminates at the border crossing in Champlain. Immediately after the border, Autoroute 15 heads north to Montreal and the Laurentians. US-11 passes through both Champlain and Rouses Point, before becoming Quebec Route 223 northbound to Contrecœur/Sorel.

By train

See also: Rail travel in the United States

• 1 Rouses Point station, 68 Pratt Street (near the intersection of Delaware and Pratt Streets). This is a small station. (updated Oct 2023) Train operator:
  • Amtrak, ☏ +1 215-856-7924, toll-free: +1-800-872-7245. Operates train service around the United States of America. (updated Mar 2022) Route stopping at Rouses Point:
    • Adirondack operating daily between Montreal and New York City including stops along the way in Saint-Lambert, Rouses Point, Plattsburgh, Westport, Ticonderoga, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Albany (Rensselaer), Hudson, Rhinecliff, Poughkeepsie, Croton-on-Hudson, and Yonkers. For trains headed to Montreal, this is the final stop before reaching border control into Canada.

By boat

• Barcomb's Marina, 90 Montgomery St, Rouses Point, ☏ +1 518 297-6112. 
• Gaines Marina, 141 Lake St, Rouses Point, ☏ +1 518 297-7000. 

Get around

US-11 links the villages.

See

• Samuel De Champlain History Center, 202 Elm St, Champlain, ☏ +1 518 298-1609. Historical museum. 
• Alice T Miner Museum, 9618 US Route 9, Chazy, ☏ +1 518 846-7336. 

Eat

• Angelo's Pizza & Grill, 44 Champlain St, Rouses Point, ☏ +1 518-547-1526. 
• Sandy's Deli, 133 Lake St, Rouses Point, ☏ +1 518 297-6951. 

Go next

Routes through Champlain and Rouses Point

Montreal ← Saint-Lambert ← ←	N  S	→ Plattsburgh → Albany (Rensselaer)
Montreal ← Lacolle ← becomes ← ←	N  S	→ Plattsburgh → Albany
END ←	W  E	→ Grand Isle → Burlington
END ←	N  S	→ Plattsburgh → Albany
Contrecoeur ← Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu ← becomes ← ←	N  S	→ Malone → Watertown

Champlain (village), New York

Rouses Point, New York