Smugglers Notch (alternatively Smugglers' or Smuggler's) is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in Lamoille County,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. The notch separates

Mount Mansfield Mount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont, reaching an elevation of above sea level. Located in the northwest of the state, it is also the highest peak in the Green Mountains. Its summit is located within the town of Underhill, Vermon ...

, the highest peak of the

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont and are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Que ...

, from Spruce Peak and the Sterling Range. Most of the notch is in

Mount Mansfield State Forest Mount Mansfield State Forest covers in seven towns in Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden, Lamoille County, Vermont, Lamoille and Washington County, Vermont, Washington counties in Vermont. The towns are Bolton, Vermont, Bolton and Underhill ...

. North of the height of land, Smugglers Notch is drained by the

Brewster River Brewster may refer to: People *Brewster (surname) *Brewster Kahle (born 1960), American computer technologist *Brewster H. Shaw (born 1945), American astronaut *Grace Brewster Hopper (born 1906), American computer scientist, mathematician, and Un ...

, which drains into the

Lamoille River The Lamoille River is a river which runs through northern Vermont and drains into Lake Champlain. It is about in length, and has a drainage area of around . The river generally flows southwest, and then northwest, from the water divide of the ...

, and into

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec. The cities of Burlington, Ve ...

. To the south, the notch is drained by the West Branch Waterbury River, then into the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

, the

Winooski River The Winooski River (also known as the Onion River) is a tributary of Lake Champlain, about long, in the northern half of Vermont. Although not Vermont's longest river, it is one of the state's most significant, forming a major valley way fro ...

, and into Lake Champlain. Smugglers' Notch derives its name from activities precipitated by a request of President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

to prevent American involvement in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. The

Embargo Act of 1807 The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the United States Congress. Much broader than the ineffectual 1806 Non-importation Act, it represented an escalation of attempts to persuade Br ...

forbade American trade with Great Britain and Canada. But proximity to Montreal made it a convenient trading partner, and the Act caused great hardship for Vermonters, many of whom continued the illegal trade with Canada, carrying goods and herding livestock through the Notch. Fugitive slaves also used the Notch as an escape route to Canada. The route was improved to accommodate automobile traffic in 1922 thus providing a route for liquor to be brought in from Canada during the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

years. Smugglers' Notch State Park was created near the Notch by the depression-era

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

. In 2003 the park was relocated, allowing for a larger campground and new, modern facilities incorporating alternative energy. In order to preserve the work of these pioneering conservationists, all original structures created by the CCC were painstakingly relocated to the new site. The

Long Trail The Long Trail is a hiking trail located in Vermont, running the length of the state. It is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States, constructed between 1910 and 1930 by the Green Mountain Club. The club remains the primary organiza ...

, a 272-mile (438-km) hiking

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

running the length of Vermont, traverses Smugglers' Notch. The trail down from the summit of Mt. Mansfield to the east reaches the road south of the height of the pass, and resumes across Route 108 at the Barnes Camp Visitor Center, climbing east to the summit of Madonna Peak. Smugglers' Notch Resort is located on the northeast side of the pass on the northern side of the Sterling Range with developments on Spruce Peak (referred to as Sterling Mountain by the resort), Madonna Peak (referred to as Madonna Mountain by the resort), and the lower portion of Morse Mountain. The resort takes its name from the pass.

Stowe Mountain Resort Stowe Mountain Resort is a ski resort in the northeastern United States, near the town of Stowe in northern Vermont, comprising two separate mountains: Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak. The lift-served vertical drop of Mount Mansfield is , the ...

straddles the southern end of the pass, with developments on both Mt. Mansfield and Spruce Peak.

Climate

References

External links

* Cambridge, Vermont Mountain passes of Vermont Landforms of Lamoille County, Vermont {{Vermont-geo-stub