Crown Point

Understand

The French began building a fort at this location as early as 1731. The narrowness of the lake passage at Crown Point, now spanned by the bridge, was of crucial strategic importance.

The name of the town is attributed to a translation of the French fort name; Point au Chevalure (the crown of the head). France retreated from the area before the Seven Years' War (the French and Indian War in North America), destroying limestone Fort St. Frédéric (1734-1759) when they left. The British gained control of the area and built Fort Crown Point in 1759 as a large earthen fort. Crown Point, controlled by Vermont's Green Mountain Boys militia in 1775, was employed by the British during the 1777 Saratoga campaign, a failed attempt to establish British control of the Hudson Valley. The next line of defence below Crown Point was Ticonderoga. Crown Point's log and earth fortress were destroyed by an accidental fire in 1773, but ruins of some of the other buildings on the site survive as Crown Point State Historic Site, a state park at the northern tip of Crown Point peninsula.

Vermonters began creating a permanent settlement in what would become present day Crown Point in 1800, when Stephen Spaulding and his brothers came to the area on a scouting expedition. The flat coastal plain made early settlement relatively easy as did the short distance to their Vermont homes. They traveled between their established Vermont farms and this new land as they cleared the ground, built log cabins and prepared to move their families. Residents of Crown Point still commute to work in Vermont.

Crown Point was an industrialized community with fine houses, lawyers, doctors, stores and an academy for training teachers, when the Civil War engulfed the country. Unlike the earlier wars, the town wasn’t directly trampled by soldiers in battles, yet it gained fame from the number of its citizens who went to fight in the conflict, and from the Morgan horses it supplied to the Union Army. Three of the most famous horses, Pink, Billy, and Jeff, survived the war, returned to Crown Point and are buried there.

By the end of the 20th century, the iron veins showed signs of exhaustion and the company was sold. The Essex County fish hatchery, where stock is grown, is located in Crown Point. History-seeking tourists, boaters and bicyclists are drawn to the town. At the millennium, local residents, as well as entrepreneurs escaping urban life, have re-established cottage industries in the town.

Get in

I-87 North to exit 28. Take Route 74 East to Essex County Route 2.

or take Route 9N & 22 north from Ticonderoga, south from Port Henry. From Vermont take Route 17 West to the Crown Point Bridge.

Amtrak's "Adirondack" line passes through the Town of Crown Point, but stations are at Ticonderoga to the south and Port Henry to the north.

Get around

By car, RV, motorcycle, bicycle or boat on Lake Champlain.