Port Henry, NY

Port Henry sits on Lake Champlain at the north end of Bulwagga Bay, and its story is inseparable from iron. Ore was found inland, then moved toward the lake and onward by water and rail; in 1776, Port Henry iron helped supply Benedict Arnold's fleet at the Battle of Valcour. By the nineteenth century, the waterfront was a transport terminal for the mines, with the Witherbee-Sherman company among the major names in town. The Iron Center Museum now carries that mining history, while the lake still gives Port Henry its shape. It is an Adirondack hamlet built around ore, shipping, and a long waterfront.