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Westport/Essex Westport’s prime location on one of Lake Champlain’s largest bays has always offered a protected port for boats of all kinds. The old steamboat Ticonderoga – now on display across the lake at the Shelburne Museum – berthed here nightly early in the last century. Visitors today have considerable access to the lake from the new Ballard Park, the public boat-launching site, the Westport Marina and the Westport Yacht Club. Westport Walking Tour. An exceptional guide to the town was prepared by the Westport Historical Society and the Westport Chamber of Commerce. A 36-page booklet with photos, descriptions and maps outlines the tour, which totals five miles and can be covered in two to three hours. The starting point is the landmark Westport Library, a restored beauty whose all-wood interior with cathedral ceiling resembles an Adirondack lodge. Built in 1887, the library with its clock tower is as much the dominant force as it is the dominant structure in town. The Library Lawn and Ballard Park across the street are settings for concerts each summer. You'll likely be struck by the number of buildings that at one time served as inns; today, most are private homes. The Depot Theatre, Pleasant Street, Westport, (518) 962-4449. Westport’s refurbished Delaware & Hudson railroad station now serves as a town museum and as the summer home of the professional Depot Theatre (the Amtrak train also stops here daily in each direction on its run between New York and Montreal). Founded in 1979, the equity theater presents four shows a season, one of them sometimes a new American musical, in the old freight room. There are also special mid-week shows and art shows in the depot. Shows generally run for two weeks over long weekends. Tickets, $15 to $20. Meadowmount School of Music, Lewis-Wadhams Road, Westport, (518) 873-2063. Students ranging in age from 8 to 30 converge each summer on this summer school for accomplished young violinists, violists and cellists training for professional careers. You might hear a budding Itzhak Perlman or Yo-Yo Ma, both alumni, at free concerts given in the Memorial Concert Hall Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings at 7:30. Westport Country Club, Liberty Street, Westport, (800) 600-6655. The championship, U.S.G.A.-rated eighteen-hole golf course is situated on a scenic shelf between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. Its tennis courts are located at water's edge. Along with the sports facilities, the restaurant and bar are open to the public daily. Greens fees with cart run from $25 to $35 a day, depending on season. Boat Tour. A 1948 Chesapeake fishing boat, the Philomena D, was converted into a 46-passenger yacht that gives two-hour narrated historical tours around the lake from the Westport Marina. A stop at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at the Basin Harbor Club across the lake is optional. Tours, Friday-Monday in summer, 1 to 3. Adults, $10. Essex Tour. This is one interesting village, from the sunburst of mustard and maroon splashed across the facade of the 1800 firehouse greeting visitors at the main intersection in town to the 1790 Wright's Inn now serving as a town office across the street. Twenty-eight village landmarks are detailed in “Essex: An Architectural Guide;” 24 more also are shown in the outlying town. The descriptions plus the accompanying maps make your travels more informed. The entire village is on the National Register and claims one of the more prized collections of Federal, Georgian Revival and Greek Revival architecture in the country. Shopping. There's not a lot, but the situation is improving – particularly in Essex – and you will find a few places in which to spend your shekels. In Westport, we like The Westport Trading Co. at 2 Pleasant St., where Kip Trienens makes gorgeous stained-glass hangings and lamps. Pottery, baskets, twig furniture, wind chimes and birdhouses abound here. Eclectic crafts from around the world as featured at Artifacts. The Bessboro Shop at 26 Main is a small department store with classic clothing and gifts. Everything for boats and cottages and those who reside in them is available at the Ship’s Store at the Westport Marina. If you need a pick-me-up after shopping or walking tours, stop at McQueen's Food & Fountain in Westport, a restaurant and ice-cream parlor from yesteryear. Order a fried egg sandwich for $2 or an old-fashioned banana split for $3.50. Essex, which as recently as the early 1990s had only a couple of stores of note, is experiencing a mini-burst in retailing. The Store in Essex on Main Street has changed from an old-fashioned emporium into an upscale center of eclectic folk art, featuring works of New York and Vermont artisans. At Natural Goods & Finery, Sharon Boisen stocks wonderful candles, Vermont honey lights, herbal items, vintage jewelry and clothing with flair. Sophisticated country woodsy merchandise, collectibles and crafts are offered at Adirondack Spirit. Hand-dipped candles and accessories are featured at Adirondack Chandler. Look for antiques, paintings, garden items and more at Neighborhood Nest. Furniture, clocks, linens, china and collectibles are among the offerings at Margaret Sayward Antiques. The little wood cats with the sign “Better to feed one cat than many mice” intrigued at Wade’s Woods and Crafts. Jim and Mary Wade also design wooden replicas of Essex’s Main Street.
Extra-SpecialCamp Dudley, Camp Dudley Road, Westport. (518) 962-4720. The historic marker near the entrance designates
this as the oldest boys’ camp in continuous service in the United
States (1885). It’s extra-special to one of us, who was a happy camper
back in the late 1940s when half the fun was getting there on the
special Camp Dudley train from Albany, New York City, Syracuse and
points beyond. Today’s campers fly in from Sri Lanka and St. Louis or
drive in with their parents, who boost occupancy rates at local inns and
B&Bs. To an aging alum, the sprawling complex looks the same except
for a new-fangled curving slide at Swim Point and an indoor gymnasium
with two basketball courts and, sign of the times, a weight-lifting
room. Still the same are all the eight-bunk fireplaced cabins spread
along the lakeshore and around the perimeter of the 250-acre campus, the
cavernous Dining Hall, the nightly shows at Witherbee Hall, the activity
at Avery Boathouse and enough sports facilities to accommodate 480
campers whose parents spend a small fortune for the month or two-month
stay. Casual visitors can introduce themselves at the main office and
ask for a look around. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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