Vintage Postcard: Rosslyn/Essex Waterfront

Rosslyn Bathhouse and Boat House — Check out this historic Essex postcard: Former Rosslyn Bathhouse and Boathouse in foreground and other Essex waterfront properties in the background! (Source: Geo Davis via Rosslyn Redux)

Take a look at the vintage postcard above. We invited our viewers to play some Vintage Essex Trivia for the chance to win an Essex hat! We announced the Essex on Lake Champlain Hat Giveaway on the blog and also added this photo to our Facebook page. We asked our viewers what they could tell us about the image.

It’s time for another challenge, but this time we let the cat out of the bag early. We included the colorized photograph above (courtesy of Shirley LaForest) to validate that Rosslyn bathhouse once stood on the shoreline just north of the boathouse. That same postcard reveals several other intriguing elements including a yacht and one or two (maybe more?) buildings that are no longer visible in Essex. I’m stumped on at least one building which was either removed or dramatically remodeled. Can you help decipher this dated Essex waterfront view? All blog/Facebook commenters will be entered in a new drawing. (Essex on Lake Champlain)

What the Community Had to Say

We received a great response! It was amazing to see so many come together to discuss and decipher Essex heritage (and to win a hat)! See some of the comments we received below:

Katherine Wadhams Cox: Is it the same yacht that is now at The Shelburne Museum? The steamboat Ticonderoga?

Katherine Wadhams Cox: Miss Pine Tree Point?

Bill Gough: I grew up riding the Essex to Charlotte Ferry, and consider it a part of my Adirondack heritage. I still love doing so at every opportunity some 60 years later.What a beautiful village is Essex!

Johnnie Tazz Mock: My great great grandfather used to Captain that ship [ferry] on Lake Champlain. I would love one of those hats as would my father.

Sara Jane Pickett: Many things. Old Dock…

Norma Goff: Not sure about the large building, but think that the Baptist church is still there, with its white top showing in the middle background over a smaller red roof. The nail factory stands, as well as some houses that burned when it did in the early 1900’s. Way to the right may also be the steeple of the Essex Community Church, built in the 1850’s.

David Hislop: Yes, I see on closer inspection that what we are looking at is not what it appears. This is TWO buildings, the gable ends of the Ross stores on Main Street as seen from the waterfront.

Leonard Duffy: Sorry I can’t answer your questions. However, I am intrigued by what appears to be a tall industrial chimney on the point at the far left. What is it?

Mark Kupperman: Well before 1918 when the nail factory burned down. When was the road paved? Thank you for the many lovely views of the town that will forever have my heart.

The Cestral yacht? The other building in front of the Nobles/Schultz house? Before my time. 80+ years ago. ~Tilly

The last comment correctly named the yacht featured in this image, though the spelling was off. The yacht was known as Kestrel, a 62 foot steam powered yacht originally owned by Samuel Keyser. According to Morris Glenn it is now owned by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority and is used during the warm months for tourists.

The identity of the large white building in the center that stumped us seems to have been cleared up with the help of the community. It is in fact not one building but the gables of two buildings painted the same colors that create the optical illusion of unity. It is likely that these were former properties of the merchant Ross family. Perhaps they are the two former Ross stores still standing today (now in use as the Pink Pig and Adirondack Art Association)? Do you agree?

Do you spot anything else in the image you’d like to point out?

The Winner

Now it is time for what you’ve all been waiting for. The announcement of the winner of the hat! We randomly picked a winner from all the blog and Facebook commenters, and the winner is…David Hislop!

Essex on Lake Champlain Hat Giveaway (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Former Rosslyn Bathhouse (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Vintage Postcard: View from Steamer of Essex, NY (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Vintage Stereoview: Northern Essex Bay (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
First Essex Blog Giveaway Winner (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

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Posts published under the Editorial Staff byline are drawn from press releases and other notices, and/or they may be first-time submissions from someone/some organization without a byline of their own; if latter, then the author will be acknowledged in the post. To submit your news for publication on the Essex blog please use the Submit a Story form or contact the editors via email (blue button above).