Rosslyn Redux

Tag: Artifacts

Why sooo many artifacts? Well, what started out as urban flight (Goodbye, Manhattan!) and Adirondack Coast escapism (Hello, Essex!) soon morphed into an all-consuming avocation: resuscitating Rosslyn (an endless, painstaking historic rehabilitation I’ve dubbed “rehab ad infinitum“). A bit like amateur archeologists poking through ancient midden heaps, we’ve tried to decipher the relevance and context of rotting lineament bottles, wallpaper shards, yellowing postcards, vintage photographs, and all manner of miscellaneous relics/esoterica. Our burgeoning collection of Rosslyn, Essex, Lake Champlain, and Adirondack artifacts comprises a veritable “digital museum” of curated collectibles all directly or indirectly related to the historic William Daniel Ross home in Essex, New York.

  • Sherwood Inn Waterfront

    Sherwood Inn Waterfront

    This morning I revisit a familiar and particularly popular perspective of Rosslyn’s lakefront or, to be more historically accurate, the Sherwood Inn waterfront in the early/mid 20th century.

    Taken together this pair of vintage postcards forms a veritable diptych of the Sherwood Inn (aka Rosslyn) lakefront, “dock house” (aka boathouse), and a veritable flotilla of classic watercraft bobbing in Blood’s Bay.

    Deciphering the Sherwood Inn Waterfront

    This north-looking vantage was most likely photographed from the environs of the present day ferry dock that shuttles cars and passengers back-and-forth between Essex, New York and Charlotte, Vermont. As with most images captured almost a century ago, some details are blurry, lacking clarity and precision, but inviting the viewer’s imagination to fill in the gaps.

    Looking at the second postcard (titled “Yachting on Lake Champlain, Essex, NY”) I zoom into the point where my vision — and the time sepia’ed rendering — become suggestive but unreliable. I’m studying an area on the water’s surface between the two most prominent motor cruisers, a spot slightly east of the dock house pier (visible in the first postcard).

    Perhaps several small dinghies or rowboats at anchor explain what I’m seeing, but I can’t resist wondering if it isn’t a vestigial section of the northernmost pier that still exists on our waterfront today. Given the field conditions and all of the historic photographs that I’ve come across, the ruins appear to predate the dockhouse and the “coal bunker” pier that extended beyond it, originally for the Kestrel enduring into the last years of the 20th century.

    Absent sharp focus and definition, this water surface anomaly distracts me, kindles my curiosity. I wonder. My mind wanders. I try to imagine the challenges of helming a boat through such a busy waterfront congested with other vessels and multiple semi-submerged hazards. We still contend with this navigational challenge to this day, and we’ve sacrificed at least two bronze propellors to the underwater ruins.

    Do you see what I’m identifying as remnants of a crib dock extending west-to-east between two lengthiest cruisers? Any amateur sleuths out there? Let me know what you think…

    Artifacts and Auctions

    As I’ve mentioned in several previous posts, I offer these photo-postcards with a bittersweet postscript.

    Recently I’ve been getting outbid in auctions of historic images of our home, boathouse, and waterfront. Did I mention that it’s the same bidder who keeps besting me? And did I mention that the prices are consistently soaring above the $200 to $300 range?

    Fascinating.

    I have no idea who is bidding against me, but s/he is keen to win these visual time capsules. I’d love to discover why. I’d love to discover whom. Perhaps a neighbor? Or a passerby smitten with Historic Essex?

    Fortunately, my collection of Rosslyn artifacts is extensive. I often bid on photographs and postcards already in my collection. But I can’t resist adding duplicates, especially when combined with compelling missives. (Fortunately the first of the two postcards is blank on the back, and the second — the capricious capture of boats afloat —include a private but uncompelling note.)

    But back to the unfolding mystery. The plot thickens. An unknown bidder consistently outcompeting yours truly after a decade or more with fairly few big dollar auctions. At the very least it’s clear that demand for historic Essex images in general (and Rosslyn images in particular) continues to increase. And to date no hint of another collector… Who. Are. You?!?! If you happen to be reading these words, please reach out. I’d love to learn what draws you to this somewhat esoteric subject. And I’d like to propose sharing images. Thanks.

    Sherwood Inn Landing on Lake Champlain (Source: Rosslyn Redux)
    Sherwood Inn Landing on Lake Champlain (Source: Rosslyn Redux)

     

    Doubling Down

    The good news is that I already own one of these two postcards. The image above of the Sherwood Inn waterfront photograph (with boathouse) has been in my collection for quite a few years. If you look closely you may notice a few subtle differences with the image at the top of this post.

    I published this postcard (postmarked July 24, 1959) on May 21, 2015 in a post titled, “Sherwood Inn Landing on Lake Champlain” which includes the sender’s note. Yes, sometimes it’s worth sharing.

    By way of conclusion, I’m embedding the Instagram post of these postcards which elicited some interesting comments/feedback that you may enjoy reading.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CWOQbhFrz8f/

  • Genre Resistance

    Genre Resistance

    Rosslyn Boathouse: Genre Resistance (Geo Davis)
    Rosslyn Boathouse: Genre Resistance (Geo Davis)

    After a lengthy pause — a series of pauses, really, punctuated with intermittent updates — August 2022 marked my return to the challenge of *redacting Rosslyn* out of sprawling scrapbooks, flaneurial field notes, poetry and storytelling, lyric essays, monologues, and an avalanche of artifacts.

    One of the persistent questions that I’ve been exploring is whether or not there is a cogent (and compelling) way to weave sixteen and a half years into a single, cohesive composition, an engaging word-work worth sharing. (Truth be told, it’s actually more like twenty years since the preamble to our Rosslyn adventure is intricately interwoven with the decision to exit Manhattan and embrace our new life in Essex.)

    Ostensibly a memoir in trajectory and scope, this idiosyncratic experiment I call Rosslyn Redux is actually an anti-memoir in format and style. It’s an amalgam (my mind defaults to a book’s tidy vessel, though it’s proving overly confining in many respects) that bridges and blurs genres, that gathers heterogeneous ingredients and collages them, more buffet than entree. It’s an experiment in interstitial narrative, allowing the wholeness to emerge out of the fragments, not altogether unlike a mosaic. Or a montage. Or a sculpture… The space in-between the fragments becomes as important as the fragments themselves.

    My path forward is primarily bushwhacking. Chopping through and chopping out. Advancing by felling obstacles and skirting ravines. Navigating treetop to escarpment to promontory.

    Yes. No. And…

    My path forward is sculpting by removing. Collaging by reducing the shards to only the most relevant, discarding the rest, and then reassembling them in a “mobile” of… words.

    Yes, this intoxicatingly compelling process is also daunting. The repository of memories and essays and stories and poems and photographs and artifacts and drawings is so vast and so sprawling, that wrapping my arms around it is an almost hubristic aspiration. Obsession. Wrangling this rhizomic narrative into a tidy, chronological, page-to-page experience is at once enticing and daunting, sexy and scary, viable and perhaps beyond my capacity. But I must, I will give it one final push!

    What in the World is Genre Resistance?

    I probably mean this in the most manifesto-ing way that genres don’t exist. They don’t exist at all. They serve the needs of marketing, of academic specialization, even as modes of work, but in terms of meaning or content or associative formations they are like traffic lights—not so interesting and most adamantly not what we are doing today. Genres for me are just a way in which we are controlled, protected I suppose but I’m not a writer to be protected at all. — Eileen Myles (Source: The New Inquiry)

    Maybe this is why I’ve gravitated towards digital storytelling and blogging for so long. I don’t find it interesting to stay in my lane, to observe the rules of the road, etc. Blogging for me has been an opportunity for genre resistance since the beginning. It’s not journalism. It’s not memoir. It’s not fiction. It’s not poetry. For me. I’m not talking in overarching generalizations. Just my case. My experience. A direct-to-reader platform where I can play around and experiment and defy expectations and overlap genres and distort genres per the whims or needs of my moment, my message. And this doesn’t just go for word salad. It’s a visual salad too. A library, stage, and interactive interactive gallery. And more. Lately I’ve been experimenting with video. With audio. Experimenting. Exploring. No rules.

    This freedom to share our Rosslyn adventure per my mesmerizing muse, uninhibited, unbound, has been an exhilarating and liberating counterpoint to the often rigid structure, rules, and traditions that guided our historic rehabilitation. Untethered. Whimsical. Freestyle.

  • Hammock Days of Indian Summer

    Rosslyn Boathouse, Indian Summer (Photo by Eve Ticknor)
    Rosslyn Boathouse, Indian Summer (Photo by Eve Ticknor)

    A warm thank you to friend, photographer, and some time Essex neighbor Eve Ticknor for giving me these evocative images of Rosslyn’s boathouse.

    You will see in my photographs, ways to see water, not just to look at it. Honing your observation skills will open your eyes to other worlds. ~ Eve Ticknor (Aquavisions)

    Rosslyn Hammock, Indian Summer (Photo by Eve Ticknor)
    Rosslyn Hammock, Indian Summer (Photo by Eve Ticknor)

    Indeed. Eve’s photographs capture  dreamy abstractions that don’t easily reveal their source. Rarely does she share images as literal and representational as these. So I considered myself very fortunate when I received her email recently.

    The photos were accompanied with a question: Is that you in the hammock? She had shot the photographs from near the Belden Noble Memoiral Library on the Essex ferry dock. At first, she hadn’t noticed that someone was reading in the    hammock. It wasn’t until she saw my flip-flops on the deck that she realized someone was contentedly resting.

    She caught me!

    Image of Indian Summer

    Although we’ve already experienced some chilly days and nights this fall, we’re also enjoying frequent installments of Indian summer. I’ve taken advantage of a few such days to grab my tablet and work lakeside from the comfort of my “corner office”.

    Eve explores refracted and reflected images on the surface of water, never using Photoshop or filters to alter her images. What we see is what she saw. And yet she succeeds in capturing all sorts of whimsical illusions on the water surface.

    Illusion of Indian Summer

    And yet these fun photos are no illusion. I was busted midafternoon playing hooky. Can you blame me?

  • Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro, New York

    Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro, New York

    Have you ever heard of Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro? If so, I’d love to learn more. So far the details are pretty thin…

    Campfire, Camp Cherokee, Willsboro, NY (postcard, front)
    Campfire, Camp Cherokee for Boys, Willsboro, NY (postcard, front)

    As we roll into the final days of 2022, I’ve been attempting to streamline my end-of-year projects. And while the prospect of simply deleting lingering items on the perennial punch list is tempting, I’m instead shuffling priorities against the incoming year’s timeline. Yes, some oldies have sat long enough that they’ve moldered into irrelevance. Delete! Others, like today’s artifact (an antique postcard for an extinct summer camp), were probably somewhat superfluous since day one (this draftling — an especially brief stub awaiting development — originated on May 18, 2017!), but they continue to intrigue me. Not ready to delete yet. And so I bring to you an unabashedly abbreviated post showcasing a postcard from Camp Cherokee for Boys. Once upon a time this small summer camp existed on Willsboro Point, possibly not too far from Camp-of-the-Pines. Today neither lakeside retreat endures, but I’m hoping that sharing this vintage postcard just might gin up a little more information.

    Crowdsource Kindling

    With an eye to kindling this fledgling crowdsource initiative into existence, I’ll share what little I’ve been able to ascertain thus far.

    According the A Handbook of Summer Camps: An Annual Survey, Volume 3 which was published in 1926 by Porter Sargent, Camp Cherokee for Boys was located “at Willsborough Point” which may simply mean somewhere on Willsboro Point, but also might suggest that it was actually located a the tip of the peninsula?

    This introductory blurb vaguely locates three summer camps located within the vicinity.

    Willsborough is north of Essex. Camp Pok-O-Moonshine is on Long Pond near the foot of Peak Pok-O-Moonshine. Camp Pocahontas is on the shore of Lake Champlain, two miles east of the village. At Willsborough Point is Camp Cherokee. (p. 388, A Handbook of Summer Camps: An Annual Survey, Volume 3)

    Scrolling down a little further to the bottom of page 388 and the top of 389 we can read the following blurb about Camp Cherokee for Boys.

    Here’s a more legible swipe at the blurry image above.

    CAMP CHEROKEE, P. O. Willsborough, N. Y. Alt 110 ft. Harold K. Van Buren, 508 National Bldg., Cleveland, Ohio. For boys 8-14 Enr. 30 Staff 10 Est. Fee $300.
    Cherokee limits its enrollment to thirty boys. Mr. Van Buren is director of Educational Research, National School Club, Cleveland, Ohio, and with him is associated the Rev. Henry S. Whitehead. Ph.D., an Episcopal clergyman who is also a short story writer. Although the camp is conducted under Episcopal auspices, the enrollment is not limited to boys of that faith. A varied program of athletics, aquatics, woodcraft and dramatics is provided. Much attention is paid to trips to the well known Adirondack peaks, as well as a sight seeing trip to Montreal. Tutoring may also be provided without extra charge. (p. 388-9, A Handbook of Summer Camps: An Annual Survey, Volume 3)

    The affiliation between Van Buren and the Cleveland based educational research institution is curiosity inspiring. Hoping to learn a bit more about that, and, of course, about the Messieurs Van Buren and Whitehead. The latter appears in a 1926 publication from the Alumni Council of Columbia University, although the relevant clipping is too small and to be readily legible.

    If your eyes are as strained as mine by attempting to decipher that blurry blob of timeworn text, here’s a more legible transcription.

    Whitehead spends his summers at Lake Champlain. There he is associated with Mr. H. K. Van Buren who is director and proprietor of Camp Cherokee for Boys at Willsboro and together they have worked out constructive new theories on boys’ camps with satisfactory results. (p. 398, Columbia Alumni News, Alumni Council of Columbia University, 1926)

    There’s a bit of curiosity bait in there as well. For example, why would two contemporaneous publications refer to the same town but spell the name differently. One is tempted to assume that the older spelling, Willsborough, was at some point replaced by the newer spelling, Willsboro. Perhaps this was the period of transition? I wonder. And then there’s the rather clinical reference to the two men developing “constructive new theories on boys’ camps with satisfactory results.” I suppose that better-than-satisfactory results might have better assured the longevity of this no longer extant summer camp. Of course, administering an enterprise of this sort with fewer than three dozen clients seems like another ill conceived component. It would be challenging to mathematically ensure viability for this business model for long. But maybe this too is a question of age/time and transition. It’s clear that once upon a time small camps and schools managed to thrive with far smaller populations than they do today. At least for a while…

    In closing, I’m soliciting any/all knowledge of the former Willsboro Point summer camp known as Camp Cherokee for Boys. Thanks in advance!

    Campfire, Camp Cherokee, Willsboro, NY (postcard, back)
    Campfire, Camp Cherokee for Boys, Willsboro, NY (postcard, back)

  • Paris, Rome, New York City and Essex

    Paris, Rome, New York City and Essex

    Living Past: Paris, Rome, New York City prepared me for Essex, NY
    Living Past: Paris, Rome, New York City prepared me for Essex, NY

    Early in the millennium I lived in Paris and Rome for a little while. Twin hardship posts!

    I shuffled back and forth on a roughly two week cycle with frequent detours to New York City to visit my then-girlfriend-now-bride. I lived out of a suitcase and a briefcase. I collected frequent flyer miles and passport stamps instead of chotchkies because they were portable and well suited to my itinerant existence.

    [pullquote]As I orbited through Paris, Rome, New York City I grew accustomed to certain similarities… but it was the differences that intrigued me most.[/pullquote]

    It was a frenetic time, juggling life on two continents and work in three countries. But it was an exhilarating and thoroughly intoxicating chapter of my still-young life. I was thirty years old and hungry for adventure. Needless to say, my jet-set life was indulging (and dilating) my appetite if never fully sating it.

    As I orbited through Paris, Rome, New York City I grew accustomed to certain similarities (ie. all three cities encourage a cosmopolitan, lively, gastronomically diverse and culturally rich lifestyle), but it was the differences that intrigued me most.

    Aside from the obvious social, cultural and linguistic differences, the way all three cities engage with their past sets them apart. All three are old — though New York and Rome bookend the age spectrum — and all three embrace their history. Architecture and urban planning are two of the most visible indications of this, and both set Rome apart.

    Rome is old. Sure, all three cities can make that claim, but Rome is really old. Ancient. And while Paris reveals Roman vestiges when quaint or historically beneficial and even highlights older archeological roots clinging to the swampy banks of the Seine, so much of the grandeur of Paris dates from the mid 1800s when Napoléon III commissioned Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann to renovate and modernize the squalid descendent of Lutetia Parisiorum.

    [pullquote]Essex is a mere freckle on the cheek of Paris, Rome, New York City, but this charming freckle simultaneously lives in the past and the present. Comfortably, happily and willfully. Essex embraces its living past…[/pullquote]

    Although Rome has periodically made efforts to modernize, there’s no escaping the city’s ancient history at every turn. New and the old are interlaced, and Romans habitually extol and condemn their ancient city in the same sentence. They bemoan the frustrations of abysmal traffic circulation, for example, and yet they pride themselves on navigating the labyrinthine quarters with alacrity, colorful language and wild gesticulation.

    Romans’ love-hate relationship with history is evident in the architecture and urban planning, but it also informs their art, design, food, music and language.

    I’ve been a collector, even a hoarder since childhood, but I credit Rome with awakening my fascination with the living past. One man’s artifact is a Roman’s quotidian necessity. The past is not relegated to museums or worse, the dump. It coexists and enriches the present.

    New York covets the new and improved, and Paris fastidiously collects and curates the most valuable gems from the past. But Rome simultaneously lives in the past and the present. Comfortably. Happily. Willfully. In a sense, Rome is timeless for this reason. It embraces its living past.

    W.D. Ross House, Essex, NY (c.1822)
    Rosslyn (aka W.D. Ross House) circa 1822 in Essex, NY

    This has been a circuitous meander to be sure, but it leads to Essex, New York, another “city” that embraces its living past. Alright, “city” is a stretch. Essex is a village, a small village. With a year-round population well under a thousand residents Essex is a mere freckle on Rome’s or Paris’ cheek. And yet this charming freckle simultaneously lives in the past and the present. Comfortably, happily and willfully. Essex embraces its living past, especially when it comes to architecture. Two centuries of heritage and life permeated by a built environment dating almost exclusively to the first half of the 19th century. Indeed many of the current residents were drawn to Essex precisely because of the historic built environment.

    While my bride and I didn’t understand it at the time — seeing our transition from Manhattan to Essex primarily as a lifestyle choice — it was Rosslyn, one of the most historic structures in town, that ultimately seduced us. And it is Rosslyn that took me by the hand and guided me back through the years.

    Through Paris, Rome, New York City to Essex in one meandering rumination, this is the journey through the coupling of past and present that has drawn me since purchasing Rosslyn in the summer of 2006.

  • Vintage Sherwood Inn Advertisement

    Vintage Sherwood Inn Advertisement

    Sherwood Inn advertisement from 1949 Adirondack Guide. (Source: Adirondack Guide via David Brayden)
    Sherwood Inn advertisement from 1949 Adirondack Guide. (Source: Adirondack Guide via David Brayden)

    Many thanks to David Brayden for discovering and sharing a 1949 Adirondack Guide that showcased Essex, NY alongside a vintage Sherwood Inn advertisement (above), the only Essex ad included in the book.

    It turns out that David Brayden is not only a talented doodler. He turns out to be as skilled an Essex artifact hunter as his son, Scott Brayden (Scott Brayden Digs Essex History), who recently made his second exploration of Rosslyn’s subterranean treasures. (More on what he disinterred soon!)

    [Note: If you missed David Brayden’s August 3, 2013 Old Dock House doodle here’s a quick recap.]

    Essex Dock House doodle by David Brayden (Source: essexonlakechamplain.com)
    Essex Dock House doodle by David Brayden (Source: essexonlakechamplain.com)

    [During Downtown Essex Day 2013 we presented passers-by with a doodle challenge.] “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Essex, New York?” David Brayden… quickly sketched out this simple building and labeled it “Dock House.” The Old Dock Restaurant is a prominent Essex building that is one of the most recognizable to passengers coming in on the Essex-Charlotte ferry with it’s red exterior, so it’s no surprise to see that as a response! (Source: essexonlakechamplain.com)

    Taproom, Beach, Lawn Sports & More

    On July 28, 2016 I received an email from David explaining that he’d come across the vintage Sherwood Inn advertisement (above), and he believed that it was Rosslyn.

    Indeed it was. He was 100% correct.

    I’ve touched on Rosslyn’s lodging/dining past previously (see Sherwood Inn Remembered and Sherwood Inn Landing on Lake Champlain), but details continue to emerge. Like the initials and last name of the proprietor and manager, C. W. Sherwood and F. S. Sherwood. I’d love to learn more about the Sherwoods. So far, the trail is faint…

    Before taking a look at the rest of the Adirondack Guide lent to me by David Brayden, I’ll recap the information from the advert.

    Sherwood Inn
    Essex on Lake Champlain
    New York

    Fronting Directly on Beautiful Lake Champlain the Inn — A Fine Example of Authentic Colonial — Commands Sweeping Views of Lake and Mountains.

    • Attractive Accommodations
    • Excellent Food
    • Colonial Taproom
    • Private Beach And Boat Dock
    • Lawn Sports
    • Golf Nearby

    C. W. Sherwood, Prop.
    F. S. Sherwood, Mgr.

    1949 Adirondack Guide: Essex

    While the vintage Sherwood Inn advertisement initially grabbed my attention, the entire book was interesting. The full title is Adirondack Guide: Vacationland In Picture, Story and History, and it is a comprehensive town-by-town tourist guide to the Adirondacks. A prior edition was published between 1945 and 1947, and then revised in 1949 resulting in the edition that David loaned to me.

    Here’s the write-up for Essex, NY.

    The charming little village of Essex is located directly on the shores of Lake Champlain. Essex is rich in historical lore and was the route of explorers and missionaries as far back as 1609. During the Revolutionary war 1776-1784 it was the scene of many an exciting battle in the region of naval engagements and the War of 1812.

    On Route 22 (the scenic lakeshores route and one of the main highways from New York to Montreal) it is served by the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Among the innumerable summer sports the principal ones are swimming, boating, canoeing, fishing, all in Lake Champlain. The chief sport in winter is fishing through the ice for delicious Lake Champlain ice-fish.

    The natural beauty of it setting is unexcelled, situated as it as it is on beautiful Lake Champlain in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Mts. Marcy (highest in New York) Whiteface and Hurricane form an impressive backdrop and across the Lake are the Green Mountains of Vermont with Mts. Mansfield, Camel’s Hump and Lincoln predominating the panorama. Essex is indeed deserving of the description which so many people have given it as “One of the Most Beautiful Spots on Lake Champlain.” (Source: Page 171, Adirondack Guide: Vacationland In Picture, Story and History, edited by Arthur S. Knight, 1945-1947, Revised 1949, published and printed by Adirondack Resorts Press, Inc. Lake George, New York)

    1949 Adirondack Guide: Gallery

    It’s challenging to narrow down the many local-ish vignettes, but present context leads me to include the write-up for Willsboro, NY in the gallery below. I’ve also included a full page advertisement for Camp-of-the-Pines that appears on the page preceding the Willsboro description. I’ve never before heard mention of Camp-of-the-Pines, but I instantly recognized the property from my frequent Willsboro Point bike rides.

    If you’re lucky enough to find a copy of this long out-of-print treasure, take a moment to leaf through its nostalgic pages. It offers an enchanting time capsule of the Adirondacks half a century ago.

  • Sherwood Inn Brochure c. 1950s

    Sherwood Inn Brochure c. 1950s

    Sherwood Inn Brochure c. 1950s (Source: Jim Laforest)
    Sherwood Inn Brochure c. 1950s (Source: Jim Laforest)

    Did you ever vacation at the Sherwood Inn in Essex, New York? If so, you’ve been a guest in our home! That’s right, long before Rosslyn became our home, it operated as a lakeside accommodation for travelers and a restaurant and tavern for everyone. This vintage Sherwood Inn brochure (I’m guessing it dates to the 1950s, but I’d welcome clarifying insights) offers a pretty slick promotion of the spot that many decades later still enchants us.

    Sherwood Inn Brochure

    Lest your eyeballs struggle with reading the copy in the brochure image above, let’s make it a little easier.

    “Sherwood Inn is located in the charming little village of Essex-on-Lake-Champlain, New York. On Route 22, the scenic Lakeshore route and one of the main highways from New York to Montreal, it is served directly by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad.

    The Inn, a fine example of authentic Colonial, is more than 100 years old. Carefully modernized by particular owners, it provides the conveniences of the new with out sacrificing any of the charm and dignity of the old.

    A private beach and dock provide facilities for swimming, boating and fishing.” (Source: Sherwood Inn Brochure)

    Before I dip into the time-tinged prose, I’d like to thank longtime Essex resident Jim LaForest for gifting us this Sherwood Inn brochure. What a welcome surprise when it showed up, transporting me back to a time well before my birth, and a period in Rosslyn’s history that I’m still sorting out. In particular, this brochure excited me because it is the very first visual rendering of the long gone Sherwood Inn Cottages.

    The natural beauty of the setting of Sherwood Inn is unexcelled, situated as it is on beautiful Lake Champlain, in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Fronting directly on Lake Champlain, which is 138 miles long and unsurpassed in beauty by any lakes in America, the Inn commands sweeping views over the Lake into the Green Mountains of Vermont. To the rear are the lofty heights of the rugged Adirondacks.

    Lovely trees furnish delightful shade. Lawn sports on the well-kept grounds include badminton, croquet and archery. An excellent golf course is available to guests a short distance away. One of the chief winter sports is fishing thru the ice for delicious Lake Champlain icefish. Grand sport and lots of fun!

    The guestrooms are beautiful — large and airy, delightfully furnished — many with original fireplaces. A spacious porch across the front of the Inn invites the vacationer to lounge and enjoy the gorgeous panorama before him of Lake and mountains.

    Guests are assured a splendid table — all home cooking. Menus are varied and only the best quality foods used.

    Fresh eggs, pasteurized milk, and cream and fresh vegetables are procured from nearby farms . We have our own purified water system and water is tested regularly by the New York State Dept. of Health.

    A Colonial Taproom with bar and joining outdoor Terrace furnish cheerful atmosphere.

    Sherwood Inn is just a short walk from the quaint village of Essex, which has such attractions and conveniences as a moving picture theatre, post office, public library and general shopping district. (Source: Sherwood Inn Brochure)

    Sounds like quite a spot! Icefish and a colonial taproom? If only I could unearth some additional photographs from guests of the Sherwood Inn to help illuminate these holiday delights. The Keuhlen family vacation snapshots, for example, offer an intimate, nostalgic glimpse into those days at the Sherwood Inn / Rosslyn. I suspect there are others out there just waiting to be discovered. Maybe one will even demystify the location of the former Sherwood Inn Cottages.

    Let’s take a look at the reverse side of the trifold brochure where the Sherwood Inn Cottages at long last make an appearance.

    Sherwood Inn Brochure c. 1950s (Source: Jim Laforest)
    Sherwood Inn Brochure c. 1950s (Source: Jim Laforest)

    The recently acquired cottages are situated slightly to the side of the Inn and facing the Lake. Each consists of bedroom, shower and lavatory and porch which afford a beautiful view.

    Essex is rich in historical lore — this whole region having featured prominently in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. We are within easy driving distance of such points of interest as Ausable Chasm, Fort Ticonderoga and Whiteface Mountain. Lake Placid is only 40 miles away, Montreal 100 miles north, and Burlington, Vermont just across the lake.

    Through the summer months, a Ferry runs directly from Essex to Charlotte, Vermont.

    Catholic and Protestant churches are within easy walking distance. (Source: Sherwood Inn Brochure)

    You’d think that between the photograph of the cottages and the description of where they were situated, it would be clear enough where on the property the three (?) cottages once stood. But the photograph offers no real clues, and the description is overly general. After all. “slightly to the side of the Inn and facing the Lake” offers only the most minimal guidance. Were they built on the front lawn, north of the house? Did they stand somewhere on the upper lawn, perhaps north of the basswood (American Linden) tree?

    As often, I conclude this post with more questions with answers. Perhaps one of you will have the missing clue?

    Click on the images below to view larger details from the brochure.

  • Rosslyn Roundup, June 27

    Rosslyn Roundup, June 27

    Lilies, August 2014 (Source: Rosslyn Redux)

    It’s time for another Rosslyn Roundup to share everything Rosslyn-related that I didn’t get a chance to post this past week. Summer in the Champlain Valley has a way of inching along slowly, slowly, slowly and then suddenly galloping off! This summer was not exception, but the transition was even more apparent because of protracted Lake Champlain flooding. With almost two months a record breaking high water, the flood delayed the normal spring/summer transition. And once the water did finally drop, everyone hustled double-time to catch up!

    This has been especially evident in our fair hamlet by the lake. Essex is undergoing a veritable renaissance! Despite early concerns that The Old Dock Restaurant and the Essex Shipyard and Rudder Club might be unable to open for the season due to severe flood damage, both are racing a July 1 opening date. And that’s only part of the Essex renaissance. Nary a storefront in the village is empty, and the offerings are exceptional. In fact, there’s so much activity that a new website has been born to tell the Essex story called Essex on Lake Champlain; it will serve as a digital bulletin board and community blog for Essex, New York. I’ve included a parade of blog posts from the website in my roundup below, so I hope you’ll take a moment to discover why Essex is such a grand place to live and visit.

    In addition to the Essex stories, I’m starting with a post about the now ubiquitous Adirondack chair courtesy of Wanda Shapiro (@WandaShapiro), the author of Sometimes That Happens With Chicken. Although this chair proudly announces its Adirondack heritage wherever it is enjoyed, not many know that it was actually invented in Westport, the next town south of Essex. You may be surprised about its history!

    Without further ado, I offer you the June 27 Rosslyn Roundup:

    • The Adirondack, Burnell, Westport or Muskoka Chair: Westport Chair was the original name for the Adirondack Chair… There is in fact a small town populated by about 1500 people called Westport, New York, on the western shores of Lake Champlain. It is on the very eastern edge of the Adirondack Park, and is quite a picturesque vacation destination. In1903 one Mr Thomas Lee set about to build the perfect chair for such a spot, as all his relations had taken up those in his mountainside cabin.
    • Travel Writing Contest Hosted by Champlain Area Trails: Get your pencils sharpened, your laptops powered, and your cameras ready, Champlain Area Trails (CATS) will soon launch its first Travel Writing Contest. It’s your chance to write about your travels in New York’s central Champlain Valley—to share your favorite experiences on the Champlain Area Trails–whether it’s hiking, walking, skiing, snowshoeing, birding, tracking, picnicking, or a little bit of each…
    • Provisions and Paparazzi in Essex, NY: “Essex is alive with both new and well-established businesses, opening up, dusting off and getting ready for the season…” So opens Sue Cameron’s “Provisions and Papparazzi” post on LakePlacid.com on June 14. Essex is alive! It’s incredible how much is going on in Essex these last couple of weeks. Essex businesses have proven that even a record breaking flood can’t drown the Essex spirit. Residents, businesses and friends of both are pulling together for what is shaping up to be the best summer in decades.
    • Longtime Residents Recall Essex Inn Years Ago: Last Sunday Alvin Reiner at the Press-Republican ran a fascinating story about the Essex Inn and the fusion of past and future in this historic landmark recently renovated by the Daltons and now open to the public. “We are reaching out to bridge the gap, as there is often a lot of knowledge that gets lost,” she said. (via Press-Republican.) Essex has long represented an important bridge back into history, but the Dalton’s Essex Inn revitalization is one of many new bridges forward toward a bright and shiny future.
    • Summer Arrives in Essex on Lake Champlain: Kim Rielly posted an enthusiastic blog post about summer in Essex celebrating flood recovery, exciting new businesses and the timeless charm that has drawn visitors and residents for decades. She asks, “could it possibly be true that the recently-submerged businesses were planning to open THIS summer? It’s true. In fact, the community is not only ready to welcome visitors for the summer – it is veritably BUZZING with activity.”
    • The Neighborhood Nest: A Gathering of Art, Nature and Antiques: Now in its 16th season, The Neighborhood Nest is one of the oldest businesses in Essex, NY but remains forever surprising! Open daily between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm, The Nest features a treasure hunt experience that spills into a wildly beautiful garden.
    • Pantouf’s Celebrates Summer with Beautiful Glassware: Yesterday I visited Helen Goetz at Pantouf’s in Essex. If you’ve never seen her beautiful glass work, now’s the perfect time to swing by before she gets swarmed with visitors… In addition to showing me her colorful glass serving platters and pitchers, Helen graciously toured me through the home, explaining how it had been configured and functioned when occupied by the Essex town doctor.
    • Live Well in the Champlain Valley: Another new addition to the Essex wellness scene is blooming on Main Street with the opening of Live Well. The beautifully remodeled space offers a wide range of health and healing services, and represents the collaborative genius of three Champlain Valley holistic health and wellness practitioners…
    • Full and By Farm, June 23, 2011: We took advantage of the beautifully sunny weather spell to make hay. We cut about 22 acres starting last week, and successfully baled 19 of it. The rain caught us in the middle of raking the last small field and we had to abandon the project. Once the grass and clover is cut rain begins to leach away the nutrients. Four straight days of rain is enough to ruin the hay as winter feed. It’s always a sad defeat, but part of making hay with an ever changing weather forecast.
    • The Old Dock Restaurant: The Old Dock Restaurant is a seasonal restaurant and bar located in the Historic Hamlet of Essex, New York. Guests arrive by automobile, private boat or on the Charlotte-Essex… Slips are available for our guests who arrive by boat. Passengers on the Charlotte-Essex ferry have the option to leave their automobiles in the free parking lot at Charlotte and when they arrive in Essex stroll a few feet to the Old Dock.

  • Hyde Gate For Sale or Rent

    For Sale: Hyde Gate, aka Rosslyn, in Essex, New York
    For Sale: Hyde Gate (aka Rosslyn), in Essex, New York, April 1910.

    Rosslyn artifacts pop up all over the place! And they’re not always Rosslyn artifacts; sometimes they’re Hyde Gate artifacts or Sherwood Inn artifacts… Honestly one of the most enjoyable aspects of owning and renovating our home is stumbling across interesting relics of its almost 200 year history.

    I originally came across the advertisement above on eBay. The auction item was a full page ripped from the April 1910 edition of Country Life in America. How could I resist? One more quirky artifact for the digital library!

    Turns out it wasn’t the only time that Hyde Gate (aka Rosslyn) was advertised for sale or rent in the early twentieth century. A March 1910 advertisement is available on Google Books. A handy tool for finding print book content, Google Books offers increased functionality for out-of-copyright content such as this old magazine. For free you can “clip” the image (at right) to use elsewhere, and you can even clip the text content from the page. The following is quoted from the ad:

    For Sale: Hyde Gate, aka Rosslyn, in Essex, New York, March 1910
    For Sale: Hyde Gate (aka Rosslyn) in Essex, New York, March 1910.

    FOR SALE “HYDE GATE,” Essex, N.Y. FOR RENT

    The country residence of Caleb James Coatsworth Esq. is just at the outskirts of Essex Village on Lake Champlain, New York. The house faces the lake, and the grounds run right down to the lake with bath houses and a large private dock. The house is between eighty five and a hundred years old. Is built of brick. It is very beautifully furnished with the real antique Colonial furniture and although lighted throughout with electricity there is not on modem electrical fixture on the first floor.

    In the hall there is an old lantern, and in all the rooms old candelabra hanging from the ceilings; there are also lamps on the centre table lighted by electricity. The house is a beautiful example of the Colonial period. It contains ten bed rooms and two bath rooms on the second floor, and three bed rooms on the third floor, also two lavatories on first floor. One can leave “Hyde Gate” in an automobile after breakfast and lunch at Lake Placid, or leave “Hyde Gate” in the morning and dine at Bretton Woods in the White Mountains, or dine at Montreal, Canada. Lake Placid is fifty miles from “Hyde Gate” by road; Bretton Woods one hundred and eighteen miles; and the Windsor Hotel, Montreal, Canada is just one hundred miles; all the roads are very good. It Is a great central starting point for automobiling. The owner of “Hyde Gate” has made all of these trips. You can leave the dock at “Hyde Gate” in a launch and go to Westport, NY, or Vergennes, Vermont (the oldest city in Vermont) through the beautiful Otter Creek or Burlington, Vermont in less than an hour, or “Bluff Point” in two hours where the Lake Champlain Hotel is located, which is considered the best hotel In the Adirondacks.

    The grounds contain between five and six acres, beautifully laid out, and there is a great abundance of flowers, a large kitchen garden, and quite a number of fruit trees and currant bushes, etc.

    A stable with room for five horses, carriage room for five or six carriages, large harness room with glass case for harness, and good comfortable quarters for coachman. There is a large carriage shed outside of table where extra carriages can be stored, also suitable for two automobiles, several chicken houses, and a pigeon house. There is a large new ice house with a cold storage house built in connection with it.

    Hyde Gate” is just half way on Lake Champlain, and one can make the trip to New York in a motor boat in two days running spending the night at Albany, or you can run to Montreal with a motor boat in two days.

    Enquire CALEB JAMES COATSWORTH 110 South Penn Ave Atlantic City NJ (via Country Life in America, March 1910, P. 495)

    A couple of years later a similar advertisement ran in the April 1912 issue of Country Life in America. And it would seem that Caleb James Coatsworth was learning a thing or two about advertising with each return to ink. The text length and detail is generally the same throughout, but a bit of brevity slips into the equation, and the photographs improve significantly. Perhaps there are later advertisements that I’ve missed?

    Let’s take a look at the copy for Coatsworth’s 1912 Hyde Gate advertisement:

    For Sale: Hyde Gate, aka Rosslyn, in Essex, New York, March 1912.
    For Sale: Hyde Gate (aka Rosslyn) in Essex, New York, March 1912.

    For Sale HYDE GATE ESSEX NY For Rent

    “Hyde Gate” is just at the outskirts of Essex Village on Lake Champlain, N.Y. It is the country residence of Caleb James Coatsworth. The house faces the lake, and the ground runs down to the lake. There are bath houses and a large private dock. The house is between 85 and 100 years old. It is a beautiful example of the Colonial period; made of brick. It is very beautifully furnished with antique colonial furniture. It contains ten bed rooms and two bath rooms on the second floor and three bed rooms on the third floor. Also two laboratories on the first floor.

    The grounds contain between 5 and 6 acres beautifully laid out. There is a great abundance of flowers. A large kitchen garden and a number of fruit trees and currant bushes, etc. A stable with room for five horses, accommodations for 5 or 6 carriages, large harness room and good comfortable quarters for coachman. Another carriage shed affords accommodations for extra carriages and two automobiles. There are other outhouses. Further particulars from

    CALEB JAMES COATSWORTH

    Hyde Gate Eases NY (via Country Life in America, April 1912, P. 3)

    Two laboratories on the first floor? Fantastic! It’s handy having multiple versions of this ad to sort out the unlikely presence of a pair of labs in a summer residence… Two lavatories, now that makes a little bit more sense. Imagine the ten year old son who’s spent all spring looking forward to summer vacation on Lake Champlain. His father has promised that their summer rental includes two laboratories. Oh, the experiments that have occupied the boy’s daydreams in the final stretch of the school year. A homemade volcano, frog dissection,… the options are endless. And then to arrive after an exhausting journey along bumpy roads in the days long before air conditioning. And the lad races inside to search for the laboratories, to find the answer to his fantasies only to discover that it was an error. Two lavatories? What sort of evil joke is that?

  • George D. Anson, Essex Merchant

    ACME, Marseilles White Spray Soaps, sold by Essex merchant Geo D. Anson.
    ACME, Marseilles White Spray Soaps, sold by Essex merchant Geo D. Anson.

    Ever scouring the midden heaps—real and virtual—for Essex artifacts, I came across these curiosities. These ACME “picture cards” were offered as incentives to soap customers. Save ACME brand Marseilles White Spray Soap wrappers, mail them to Lautz Bros & Co. (located in Buffalo, New York), and receive these odd collectibles. Think of them as the colorful baubles of an early brand loyalty scheme.

    Why am I sharing these?

    Flip the cards and you find this.

    George D. Anson, Essex Merchant

    It turns out that Essex merchant Geo. D. Anson (aka George D. Anson) was offering these to patrons of his general store in the late nineteenth century, yet another reminder of our industrious forebears in this once bustling community.

    We learn a bit more about George D. Anson here:

    George D. Anson established a store in the building now occupied by him in 188o. It is the same building which H. D. Edwards had used as a store years ago, but it had been vacant for some time when Mr. Anson came into it. (Source: “History of Essex, New York”, Chapter XXXIV (pp. 540-559) of History of Essex County with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, edited by H. P. Smith, published by D. Mason & Co., Publishers and Printers, 63 West Water St., Syracuse, NY 1885.)

    And, if the data logged at Find A Grave Memorial is correct, then we know the following about George D. Anson:

    Birth: 1839
    Death: 1902
    Parent: Serena Spear Anson (1800-1887)
    Spouse: Caroline Stower Anson (1847-1877)
    Children: Edward S Anson (1875-1946), Laura S Anson (1877-1954)
    Burial: Essex Cemetery, Essex, New York
    Source: Heidi McColgan (findagrave.com)

    I can’t personally vouch for the family tree since it leapfrogs my research, but it seems plausible. (Special thanks to Heidi McColgan and Karen Kelly for the information and photos.)

    Anson’s Store and Anson’s Dairy

    This is my first discovery that George D. Anson ran a store in Essex circa 1880. I hope to learn more about him/it in part because I’d like to know if this is the same Anson family that ran a dairy in Wadhams when I grew up. (See “Homeport in Wadhams, NY“, “Hickory Hill and Homeport“,  etc.)

    Vintage milk top from Anson's Dairy in Wadhams, NY
    Vintage milk top from Anson’s Dairy in Wadhams, NY

    I grew up in Wadhams when there was still a post office, a general store, and an Agway farm supply store. Does that sound like a Norman Rockwell calendar illustration? It certainly does when you add a milkman into the mix.

    Rain snow or shine Mr. Anson delivered the brunt of our breakfast ingredients. Each week he drove or walked (if too snowy or icy to drive) up our steep driveway lugging his fresh provisions. He let himself in, dropped off the goods, picked up a check that my mother left for him once a month, and continued on his way.

    The good old days… (Source: Essex on Lake Champlain)

    Off to poke around some more! (Please let me know if you can help fill in the gaps.)

  • Re-roofing and Flood Proofing

    Re-roofing and Flood Proofing

    Rosslyn boathouse when re-roofing was 50% complete in the summer of 2010
    Rosslyn boathouse when re-roofing was 50% complete in the summer of 2010

    Last summer (June-July 2010) our biggest concern with Rosslyn’s boathouse was restoring the roof. It’s hard to imagine that a year later our biggest concern is saving the building, pier and waterfront from finally-receding-but-increasingly-rough Lake Champlain flood waters! What better way to distract our anxieties than to look back on drier times?

    The cedar shingle was suffering from many years of neglect. Covered with moss and rotted completely through in many areas, it was possible to watch clouds passing overhead (and fireworks) by standing in the second story and looking through the rot spots in the roof! Friend and former neighbor Michael Leslie headed up the project of stripping the expired shingles, rebuilding the rotted beams, sub-roof and related trim including the window overlooking the lake. The following comes from a blog post last July as we rounded the halfway mark.

    The hardest part of re-shingling Rosslyn dock house is now behind us. Special thanks to Michael Leslie, Jerry Spooner and Jim Spooner for their progress so far.

    In a bizarre twist, David Hislop asked me yesterday, “What’s the story with the dock house?” Hmmm… The story? Well, that’s what I’m writing: Rosslyn Redux. Coming soon to a digital download near you. 😉 Turns out he was referring to the roof. “People are asking why you’re re-roofing it AGAIN.” Again? Apparently a half dozen people have asked him this question. Easy answer. We’re not. It hasn’t been re-shingled since the early/mid 1980’s, but after a quarter century of rain, snow, ice, sun and wind, many of the shingles have rotted through and the roof is leaking, especially the southern exposure. We’d known that we would eventually have to strip the old shingles, but we had delayed as long as practical. Let’s hope the new roof lasts as long as the old one!

    Although the re-roofing project took considerably longer than anticipated (this formula has become the rule rather than the exception during the process of renovating Rosslyn), it was worth every second when the beautiful work was complete. And doubly so last winter when snowstorms battered the little structure and again this spring when rain lashed at the roof. For the first time since buying this property in the summer of 2006 my bride and I could stop worrying about the boathouse that seduced us half a decade ago! The foundation had been restored. The structure had been restored. And now the roof had been restored. Life was good…

    Perhaps we were too pleased? Perhaps hubris slipped into our homeowner psyche’s? Perhaps. Or perhaps nature’s far more powerful and far more fickle and unpredictable than we can possibly imagine. I’ve commented elsewhere that nature is a formidable foe and a loyal friend. I genuinely believe this, and yet this spring has reminded me that a boathouse built on a pier in the waters of a lake is not natural. It is a valuable architectural artifact. It is an indulgence. But it is not natural. And despite my resolve to balance my lifestyle with healthy stewardship of the natural environment, I never before stopped to contemplate how unnatural this structure really is. Although I’d likely discourage construction of a new albeit similar structure in fragile habitat like Lake Champlain, I never once stopped to consider Rosslyn’s beautiful boathouse a violation of nature because it already existed. It’s part of the architectural heritage of Essex, NY. In fact, we felt a responsibility to restore the boathouse. Indeed I still do, despite my newfound recognition that it contradicts my conventional bias.

    Life is complex, and contradictions are everywhere. I don’t pretend to know all the right answers, nor even very many of them. But I’m beginning to suspect that the silver lining of Lake Champlain’s destructive flooding this spring is that I’ve been forced me to recognize and grapple with the contradiction in preserving Rosslyn’s boathouse despite the potentially adverse environmental impact. It has reminded me that conviction is handy but not infallible, that conviction must be balanced with questioning and humility.

    So, I’m finally flood proofing my optimism! I’m still soggy and still anxious about the waves rolling through the interior of the boathouse and crashing against the rapidly eroding bank supporting Route 22, but I’m beginning to see that the glass is half full after all. And Lake Champlain? It’s still overfull!

  • Adirondack Chairs Revisited

    Adirondack R&R in one of many versions of the Adirondack Chair
    Vintage R&R; Vintage Adirondack Chairs

    “To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Harry C. Bunnell, a citizen of the United States, residing at Westport, in the county of Essex and the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Chairs. … ” So begins patent number 794,777, dated July 18, 1905, in reference to what we commonly refer to as the Adirondack Chair. With its signature slanted back and wide armrests, the recognizable profile of this outdoor recliner has become a trademark of summer in America. Despite the patent filed over a hundred years ago, though, Harry Bunnell, a carpenter and shop owner, was not actually the one who created the chair’s design. (via NYTimes.com.)

    Image from original patent for Adirondack Chairs
    Image from original patent for Adirondack Chairs

    In Monday’s Rosslyn Roundup I included a link to a post about Adirondack Chairs, originally invented by Thomas Lee in 1903 but copied and adapted by countless carpenters since. It is a welcome surprise then to see the New York Times’ The 6th Floor blog tackling the same timely topic today.

    In “Who Made That Adirondack Chair?” Hilary Greenbaum highlights Harry C. Bunnel’s decision to patent the design actually invented by Thomas Lee allegedly without his permission. A case of vintage Adirondack snark? Perhaps. But even in Hilary’s telling, Lee seems to have been gracious and let the matter go, permitting his friend to produce the Adirondack chairs for profit for a quarter century.

    Local Link to Adirondack Chairs

    [pullquote]I think Uncle Tom’s design is superior but Harry Bunnell patented and sold “a better mouse trap”.[/pullquote]

    As luck would have it, I’m friendly with several of Thomas Lee’s descendants who still visit or live in Westport, New York – our Lake Champlain “neighbor” to the south –  where the original Adirondack chairs (aka Westport chairs) were invented and produced. I’ll ask around to see if there’s any more to this story, perhaps passed down through the generations.

    Update: I checked in with Bruce Ware, the realtor who showed us property for several years and ultimately brokered the deal for us when we purchased Rosslyn. He is directly related to Thomas Lee. Here’s what he had to say:

    The Adirondack chairs that Uncle Tom made and the one that Bunnell patented are similar but not the same. I can say that I think Uncle Tom’s design is superior but Harry Bunnell patented and sold “a better mouse trap”. The patent has since expired, and I would be happy to discuss it more and show you the differences. So it goes… (Bruce Ware, 6/30/11)

    If you know any more about the history of Adirondack chairs, please share your wisdom in the comments below or on the Facebook page.