ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain science becomes touchable on Burlington’s working waterfront
Artwork inspired by Wolf Kahn
Lake Champlain science becomes touchable on Burlington’s working waterfront Live animals, watershed experiments, Indigenous and cultural context, changing family exhibits, and harbor views connect a single lake to global systems. The strongest exhibits move between observation and consequence: what lives here, how water circulates, and what human choices change.
Begin with the lake-facing galleries, catch a scheduled animal program, and leave time to walk the waterfront outside. The building gets loud on school and weather-heavy days; timed films and special programs may add cost or require planning. A slower second pass often reveals the ecological links hidden beneath the family activity.
- Opened
- 2003
- Setting
- Burlington waterfront
- Focus
- Lake Champlain basin
Quick guide
- Face the water
- Orient every exhibit to the real lake outside.
- Meet a local
- Use animal interpretation to learn one native adaptation.
Know before you go
- Face the water
- Orient every exhibit to the real lake outside.
- Meet a local
- Use animal interpretation to learn one native adaptation.
- Build the watershed
- Interactive models explain runoff better than labels alone.
- Step outside
- Compare exhibit claims with the active waterfront.
Good to know
The building gets loud on school and weather-heavy days; timed films and special programs may add cost or require planning.
Notice these
- Lake aquarium
- Watershed table
- Waterfront deck