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Essex (New York) Travel Guide


Essex (New York) Attractions & Activities - The Best Holiday Destinations for 2020

Essex is a city in Essex County, where the Adirondack Park borders Lake Champlain. This charming Federal period town prospered in the 1800s and today has become a somewhat "sleepier" rural community home to vacationers and year-round residents with an appreciation for the well preserved architecture and friendly population. Lake frontage, its relatively flat land, and the powerful Bouquet River made the town of Essex readily accessible to settlement, and sped its rate of development. Essex County’s best known early settler, William Gilliland planned a baronial estate for Essex in 1765. His brother-in-law finished the first house the next year, and a lake shore community rapidly developed. But, when English troops passed through the area during the Revolutionary War, most of the settlers fled their homes, returning to their families. Once the trampling feet of the opposing armies were gone, the settlers came back to the land. When the War of 1812 began, Essex was the principle shipbuilding port on this side of the lake. Apple orchards thrived on the plain. By the late 1800’s Canadian merchants would boat along the Champlain shore contracting for the apples grown in adjacent fields. These apples, and grains for distilling, were agricultural cash crops but hay and dairy products were the primary cash products. Boat building, a knitting mill, and a buttery were among the business in the first two decades of the 20th century. Industries fell away as the 20th century progressed. Today tourists are drawn to its quaint shops and restaurants, the ferry service to Vermont and the beauty of the remaining farms.


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Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Essex (New York) - updated Mar 2024

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Essex (New York) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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