Northlands students check out the archaeological dig on the banks of Otter Creek, next to the Northlands campus.

Archaeologists from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum spent nearly two weeks digging and evaluating a site on Otter Creek adjacent to Northlands’ campus in Vergennes, Vermont that they believe may be the site of a historic naval shipyard. That shipyard was the birthplace of a legendary 14-boat fleet that defeated the British in a crucial battle of the War of 1812.

“The primary goal of the project is to confidently identify if the location of Commodore Thomas MacDonough’s War of 1812 shipyard is where we believe it to be, which is just down river a little bit from the falls in Vergennes,” lead archeologist Joanne Dennis said.

Ms. Dennis and her team searched for artifacts by digging numerous small, deep holes around the location. In addition, divers investigated the banks of Otter Creek, looking for clues under water along the shoreline.

The archeologists incorporated an educational aspect into their research, bring students from the surrounding area to learn about the project and naval history. Northlands Academic Instructor Nathan Bouvier brought his class to the site where they witnessed firsthand the search for relics.

“The students were fascinated by the pits the archeologists were digging,” Mr. Bouvier said. “While nothing major was found while we were there, what they did find and the possible stories behind them sparked the students’ imaginations.”