Every Monday we share an image on the Essex on Lake Champlain Facebook page and invite our viewers to play some Vintage Essex Trivia. What do you recognize in this old photograph? When do you think it was taken? Can you point out any changes compared to today?
Here’s what the community has already had to say:
Helen Jennings Rita: Old Boathouse next to the Essex Ferry. Early 1970s?
Ben Durant: I used to play there all the time. The second wharf beyond the dock house was always a wreck since I can remember… 1970s on… I’d guess this pic dates to the turn of the century to 1930. The second little structure (pump house?) disappeared a long time ago. The same: Boat house and the mooring location. George McNulty let me use his mooring to the south of the boathouse in the mid 90s. Lots of fond memories of that spot.
Christine Herrmann: Sherwood Inn boathouse in the 1940s-1960s – maybe longer. It later belonged to the McNultys and now belongs to George Davis. It didn’t look like this when I first went to Essex in 1947, and it doesn’t look like this now!
Everyone recognized the location and the iconic boathouse (constructed in 1898)! Although the photograph on this postcard actually dates much earlier than everyone had guessed — it’s from 110 year ago aka 1907!
Check out the back side of the postcard below. It’s stamped with the date July 25, 1907 along with the location it was mailed from, Essex, NY; looks like it arrived at its destination in New Rochelle, NY on July 26. Which means the photo on the postcard’s front was taken in that year or earlier!
This postcard was first shared on the Rosslyn Redux blog by George Davis and he shared some insights into how (little) the Boathouse has changed compared to today:
“There’s so much to admire in this photograph-turned-postcard. Rosslyn boathouse stands plumb, level, and proud. Probably almost two decades had elapsed since her construction, but she looks like an unrumpled debutante. In fact, aside from the pier, coal bin, and gangway, Rosslyn boathouse looks almost identical today. Remarkable for a structure perched in the flood zone, ice flow zone, etc.
I’m also fond of the sailboat drifting just south of Rosslyn boathouse. Raised a sailor, one my greatest joys in recent years has been owning and sailing a 31′ sloop named Errant that spends the summer moored just slightly north of its forebear recorded in this photo.
Although the pier and the massive coal bin in front of the boathouse are no longer there, they offer a nod to Samuel Keyser‘s stately ship, the Kestrel, for many summers associated with Rosslyn boathouse. (Source: “Rosslyn Boathouse, circa 1907” via Rosslyn Redux)
We’ve shared a close-up photograph of the Kestrel docked at the boathouse before — take a look: “Vintage Photo: Kestrel at Rosslyn Boathouse.”
Do you have any other thoughts or information to share? Please leave a comment below!
Share Your Essex Artifacts
If you want to share your old photos of Essex (also brochures, postcards, menus, tickets, artifacts, etc.) on the blog please email us at editor [AT] essexonlakechamplain [DOT] com.
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