Boathouse Pier

My previous two posts, “Ruins of Old Pier” and “J. C. Coatsworth Residence”, compel me to follow up with a retrospective specifically focusing on the former crib dock that once extended beyond the boathouse. No longer extant, this lakeside heritage may have vanished from view, but I hope to preserve this history in part to footnote contemporary considerations and in part to ensure enduring documentation. Besides, these historic photographs of the old boathouse pier are just a whole lot of fun to look at!

The image above is a cropped detail from a vintage postcard included in its entirety further below in this post. I’ve cropped the image and adjusted contrast, lighting, etc. in order to emphasize details of the boathouse gangway (left of boathouse, connecting boathouse to shore), the boathouse itself (center), and the boathouse pier (right of boathouse, extending into Lake Champlain) .

As I understand it, the large timber structure on top of the boathouse pier was a coal crib used for storing fuel to power the Keyser family steam yacht, Kestrel. A bit of an eyesore, but probably pretty practical at the time.

Here’s a scrapbook style collection of images and excerpts (from previous posts) to help expand your perspective of Rosslyn’s former boathouse pier.

[This] Charlotte-Essex Steam Ferry… [photograph is part of] a vintage brochure… includes Rosslyn’s waterfront near center right in the image. You can make out the boathouse as well as the large crib dock pier originally located north of our beach. (Source: Ferry Rhythm)

[In this] cinematographic photograph… [you see Kestrel, a] handsome steam yacht… [and] the perfect pier and boathouse to preside over her when she is in port. (Source: Kestrel at Rosslyn Boathouse)

[The] spectacular photograph above portraying an early 1900s panorama of the Essex waterfront… requires squinting to blaze through the blur, but I’ll include… [a zoomed-in detail of this]… rare capture of Rosslyn’s dock house / boathouse… [that] offers a remarkably clear view of the dock house gangway and outer pier access. (Source: Rosslyn Dock House & Crystal Spring Farm)

It appears to me that the coal crib has been removed, so perhaps this photo dates from the days of the Sherwood Inn. See the bathhouse beyond the boathouse pier?

Now let’s return to the postcard from which I cropped the detail at the top of this post. (Although the boathouse pier is the focus today, the shoreline also intrigues me. This photograph documents an unusually low lake level!)

The section between the two piers (the western pier with dock house and the eastern pier with coal bin) are conjoined by… a bridge or suspended gangway… (Source: Rosslyn Dock House & Crystal Spring Farm)

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.

[…]

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)

The previous and next images are actually two versions of the same photograph (as explained in “Sherwood Inn Waterfront”) depicting “the Sherwood Inn waterfront in the early/mid 20th century.”

Can you discern the boathouse pier beyond the docked boats?

Rosslyn’s boathouse is… visible near the right side of the photograph [above]. The Kestrel does not appear to be docked in front of Rosslyn when this image was made, but the longer pier north of the boathouse does appear to be present if you squint and focus on the blurry waterline line the right edge of the postcard. (Source: Artifacts & Ephemera: Essex Memento Medley)

For now, I’ll abbreviate this post here. Many more representations of Rosslyn’s boathouse pier likely exist, and if I’m fortunate enough to come across any I will certainly update this post then.