Nitamibontegw

Nitamibontegw is an Abenaki name for the first falls on Otter Creek, upstream from its mouth on Lake Champlain. The river was a route through the valley for Indigenous communities, linking the lake with the interior. A sawmill was built at the falls in 1764, and the settlement that grew there became Vergennes. During the War of 1812, American forces assembled a fleet at the falls for the battle fought on Lake Champlain in 1814.