Every Monday we share an image on the Essex on Lake Champlain Facebook page and invite our viewers to play some Vintage Essex Trivia.

Continuing in the trend of sharing vintage images featuring locales near to Essex….do you recognize the site in the image above? What can you tell us about it? What has changed?

There is some text on the image that identifies the location if you cannot recognize it as “Crown Point Light, Lake Champlain, NY.” Text on the other side also identifies the publisher and date the image was created: “Arthur Livingston, Publisher, New York 1900.”

Take a look at the back side of this postcard to the right. Not much information there. Although it does tell us stamps were one cent domestic and two cents foreign.

Only one comment from the community:

George Davis: Pre-Rodin sculpture… Or not?!?!

I wasn’t sure what the comment was referring to, but a little research led me to discover that on May, 3 1912, a Rodin bronze sculpture was incorporated into the lighthouse, which had been transformed into a monument dedicated to Samuel de Champlain and his discovery of the lake. So to answer the question — yes, this is pre-Rodin by 12 years as the postcard was created in 1900. The tower also looks much different today than compared to its appearance on the postcard (which is very similar to Essex’s Split Rock Lighthouse) because much was changed when it became a monument.

Here is a description of the original lighthouse seen in the postcard:

“A sister to Point au Roche Lighthouse and Windmill Point Lighthouse, Crown Point Lighthouse originally consisted of a fifty-five-foot-tall octagonal limestone tower connected to a wooden, Cape-Cod-style cottage. The one-and-a-half story dwelling had a kitchen, pantry, dining room, and parlor on the first floor and three bedrooms upstairs. O’Neal and Ellis of Malone and Champlain, New York built the lighthouse, with a subcontract to S. W. Clark & Co. of Willsboro Point for the blue limestone used in the tower. Trapezoidal windowpanes encased the lantern room, from where a fifth-order Fresnel lens first beamed forth a fixed white light at a focal plane of eighty-three feet on the opening of navigation in 1859.” (LighthouseFriends.com)

And here is a description of how the lighthouse was transformed into the monument, complete with statues:

“Using a style popular in Samuel de Champlain’s time, the limestone exterior of the lighthouse was replaced with eight Doric columns resting upon a conical base made of Fox Island granite imported from Maine. An ornate cornice, parapet, and lantern room were also added to complete the memorial. Parts of the foundation, the interior brick, and the cylindrical shaft holding the spiral staircase are from the original tower, and the space between the old and new towers was filled with concrete.” (LighthouseFriends.com)

To learn more about the history of the Crown Point Lighthouse and see photos of its appearance today visit LighthouseFriends.com.

Do you have any other thoughts to share? Please leave a comment below!

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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.