Every Monday we share a vintage image on the Essex on Lake Champlain Facebook page and invite our viewers to play some Vintage Essex Trivia. Thanks to William Morgan for sharing this one with us.
Do you recognize the building and/or tower in the photo? The tower is the key: it’s Split Rock Lighthouse.
Here’s what the community had to say (many recognized the lighthouse):
Jane McClung TerLouw: Looks like Split Rock to me.
Dianne Lansing: I’m guessing its the Split Rock Lighthouse. (Why else would it be posted on an Essex website?)
Greater Adirondack Ghost and Tour Company (Plattsburgh, NY): Beautiful photo of the Split Rock lighthouse, built in 1867!
Jeff Warner: Has it been too long or was the negative backwards when the photo was developed?
Becky Thebeau: Oh my. Look at original photos of Crown Point Light house and see almost identical. Crown Point Lighthouse used to have sheep in the back in 1810, original should be at Penfield Homestead Museum, Crown Point, NY with the papers that shows coast guard giving possession to the point.
The original lighthouse at Split Rock was constructed in the 1830s and was later replaced with a limestone tower in 1867 that still stands today—which appears to be the one in the photo. Don’t you agree? Which dates the photo post-1867, but I’m still unsure of an estimate date. I’d say perhaps early 1900s (although I’ve seen old ~1960s photos with a reddish tint similar to this.) What do you think?
Learn more about Split Rock Lighthouse on the site run by its current owner.
Share Your Essex Artifacts
If you want to share your old photos of Essex (or brochures; postcards; menus; tickets; any artifact) on the blog please email us at editor [at] essexonlakechamplain [dot] com.
Related articles
- Vintage Postcard: Split Rock Lighthouse (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Vintage Essex Photo: Marching Band (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Something in this photo doesn’t look accurate to me, but my memory of the Lighthouse is from later years and some of these buildings may have been torn down. The stone stairs are not visible and the tower appears further in the background than I remember.