Elizabeth Lee wrote a wonderful essay extolling the similarities between Montmartre in Paris and the Champlain Valley for the Champlain Area Trails Travel Writing Contest. Lee’s “This Could Be Montmartre” gives a beautiful comparison between the park and staircase of Montmartre with local features of Coon Mountain. Despite the ocean between the locations and the different cultures, Lee manages to convey that the people at both places are intrinsically the same.

Throughout her essay, Lee also gives mention of many Champlain Valley businesses including The Pink Pig, Dragon Press, and Dogwood Bakery.

Lee really makes the Champlain Valley sound just as exotic a destination to visit as Paris. She does such a good job it makes me want to go out right now to every place that she mentions.

Below you can read Lee’s essay, but be sure to check out the other stories in the contest and don’t forget to vote for your favorite to win a $250 prize!

“If the Adirondacks were Paris, the Champlain Valley could be Montmartre.

Montmartre is the neighborhood that surrounds the fantastic cathedral of Sacre Coeur in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.  The facade of the church stands out above the surrounding city the way the cliffy outlook on Coon Mountain stands out from the forest when you search from far away.  The vicinity of Coon Mountain is as beautiful, as charming, and as artistic as Montmartre. As spiritual, as cultured, and as ancient.  Visitors may have seen pictures but in the end they come to see for themselves…” [Continue reading This Could Be Montmartre.”]

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