ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain educates and delights people about the Ecology, Culture, History, and Opportunities for stewardship of the Lake Champlain Basin.


Exhibits
Boston-based exhibit designer, Amaze Design, Inc. has developed the ECHO experience which interprets the ecological, geological, biological, and cultural history of the Lake Champlain Basin and includes Awesome Forces Theater (800 million years compressed into 6 minutes of crashing, flashing, caving glaciers and continental collision!), a water-play space for kids to build dams and float boats, and an Atlantic tide pool touch tank with periwinkle snails, horseshoe crabs, sea stars, anemones and urchins. Young visitors may enjoy the working miniature lighthouse or pop in on a painted turtle in Discovery Place, while other kids may control a high-tech underwater adventure as they get a glimpse of the replica historic General Butler shipwreck. From Abenaki story-telling to the dynamics of Lake Champlain's underwater wave the ECHO adventure immerses guests in the sights, sounds, smells and feel of past and present life in the Basin. A series of special touring exhibits are showcased in the changing exhibit gallery three times a year.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IT?

Open May - September!What in the World Is It? is a 1,700 square foot giant maze that delights both children and adults.

Where in the world are you in the wild and wacky life-sized maze and what in the world are the many rare and endangered species that once or still make their home in the Lake Champlain Basin?

Listen to the sounds of the animals of the Basin as you make your way through the maze’s twists and turns. Read clues and characteristics and try to identify the endangered or vanishing species each panel describes. It’s fun for the whole family especially if you can find your way out!

AWESOME FORCES
Experience the power of wind, water, volcanic action, glacial scouring and other larger than life geologic forces that shaped the landscape we see today in the Champlain Basin. Awesome Forces immerses the visitor in the sights, sounds and textures of billions of years of dramatic geologic history during this multi-sensory theater adventure.

BEFORE THE BASIN
Travel back in time to explore the world of the Champlain Valley when the Adirondack Mountains were as high as the Himalayas or to the time when beluga whales and seals swam in the salty waters of the Champlain Sea. Pick up a sea star, build your own mountain or try your hand at eroding mountain rocks. These activities and much more await your explorations as you uncover the mysterious time Before the Basin.

RIVER'S END
Passing by the 20-foot waterfall, cascading down a Vermont limestone face, visitors ascend to a landing where they come face-to-face with ECHO's first live habitat. The River's End tank provides a glimpse at a variety of live fish, frogs, and turtles found in the Basin. Explore this 2,750 gallon river community where currents, waterfalls and shoreline vegetation provide a home for chain pickerel, long-nosed gar, bullfrogs, garter snakes, painted turtles and many other diverse residents of the River's End.