Does anybody recollect seeing the Sherwood Inn‘s boathouse billboard as photographed above. It’s well before my time, but probably not too long before my earliest Essex memories in the 1970s. I recently reached out to our friend Cheri Phillips to find it what she might know about the photograph above. She generously gifted me the photo shortly after we purchased Rosslyn, but she no longer recalls where it came from. In terms of seasonality, it looks like late winter or early spring. March seems likely. And the abbreviated west end of the boathouse pier intrigues me. Perhaps that helps narrow down rough timeline? I’m hoping that one of our insightful readers will be able to help fill in the gaps?
Today bold signage no longer greets the eye in Essex, but the handprinted (I’m guessing) boathouse billboard must have been extremely visible on the waterfront rooftop just north of the ferry dock. It’s the most attention grabbing element in the photo above, but there are some additional details worth noting as well. For example, if you examine the left side of the photo, roughly halfway up the edge, you can just barely detect the roof of the long gone bathhouse once located north of Rosslyn’s boathouse and roughly adjacent to the remains of a crib dock that once reached far out into Lake Champlain. Also notable is the absence of trees along the waterfront. This and other images made in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s reveal a virtually treeless lakefront at Rosslyn and the other residences located south of Rosslyn: Sunnyside, and Greystone.
In just a few short months it’s possible if not likely that we’ll be able to enjoy a similar perspective looking northeast from roughly Sunnyside. There will be considerably more trees, and most likely there will be considerably less ice and snow on the lake. And not boathouse billboard! Although it’s too early to guess, recent years have resulted in fewer and fewer significant freezes of the broad lake. Perhaps this year will be different? If so, maybe we can stage a now-and-then duet with Cheri’s vintage view of Sherwood Inn’s boathouse billboard.
What do you think?