Crown Point Military Road

The small old dirt road that runs between the cottage and the lake was the road the soldiers marched over during the Revolutionary War.

I had a hunch that our cottage was on land marched over during the Revolutionary War so I did some research. General Jeffrey Amherst and his men marched from Fort No. Four to Fort Ticonderoga during the "War of the Revolution" or Revolutionary War. On their way they camped on the north side of the lake. The lake is now named after General Amherst. It is now known as Lake Amherst in Plymouth, Vermont. It is where Vermont Cottage Lake Amherst is today! Imagine that!

Several of these men returned after the war to clear the land and build their homes in this beautiful valley. Among them are the ancestors of Vermont families. Lieutenant Nathaniel Bowman Brown, one of these soldiers, built his log cabin on the Lake Amherst camp site. This property now belongs to one of his decedents, me, Alecia Armstrong and my husband John. It is special to know this. Especially so when people ask about the road between the cottage and the lake. It's not just any dirt road. I knew my grandmother, a Brown, was a descendant of Nathaniel Bowman Brown, but I never imagined that the land had been passed down from that long ago so directly. This gives me chills and makes me pinch myself. I'm a simple girl who grew up on the lake (bored as hell as a kid!....Oh to be that bored again!) , not rich by any means, but I sure do feel rich in culture and history.

The cottage sits up on a bluff above the ole Crown Point Military Road, now named Scout Camp Road. The soldiers would stop and camp at the head of Lake Amherst. The lake is named after General Jeffrey Amherst who lead the troops over the roads. After the the war some of the soldiers came back to the area and settled the town of Saltash which is renamed Plymouth, Vermont. Nathaniel Bowman Brown built a log cabin at the head of Lake Amherst. The land was passed down through the family and remains in the family today. It is where the present Vermont Cottage Lake Amherst is.

Walking along the dirt road you will find old kilns and markers commemorating the war.

22 Crown Point Military Road Across Vermont a chain of markers stretch from the banks of the Connecticut River to the shore of Lake Champlain. Erected at different times, by different people, and made of different materials -granite, marble, stone, wood, metal - the markers serve as a visual reminder of the Crown Point Military Road.

Kiln pics here

The Route- The Crown Point Road began at the Fort at Number 4, roughly where the center of Charlestown, New Hampshire is located, on the east side of the Connecticut River. It followed a generally northward route, reaching its river crossing point near the mouth of Beaver Brook. On the Vermont side of the river, it proceeded north-northwest through what are now Springfield and Weathersfield before bearing west across Cavendish. Roughly at the center of Cavendish, it again turned more north, turning west again between Plymouth and Ludlow toward Shrewsbury. It reached Otter Creek in Clarendon, and then followed that valley northward, through Rutland, Proctor, and Pittsford, before bearing northwest across the hills south of Brandon.

Near the junction of Vermont Routes 30 and 73 in northern Sudbury, a spur of the road headed west toward Fort Ticonderoga (passing through present-day Orwell), while the main road continued northwest through Whiting, Shoreham, and Bridport before finally reaching Lake Champlain opposite Fort Crown Point in present-day Addison.

The History- In 1759, British forces under the command of General Jeffery Amherst captured Fort Ticonderoga from the French in the later stages of the French and Indian War. Determined to maintain British control over the southern end of Lake Champlain, Amherst ordered the construction of Fort Crown Point, and the construction of the road joining it to the Fort at Number 4, then the northernmost British colonial outpost on the Connecticut River. The route roughly followed an old Native American trail, parallelling the Black River in its southern extent and Otter Creek in its northern. Early work on the road was performed by colonial militia forces commanded by Colonel John Stark. Work included the clearing of trees and stumps, construction of bridges across small streams, and the construction of corduroy sections across swampy terrain.

After the war, the road became a major route by which central southern Vermont was settled. As more and better roads were built through the region, portions fell into disuse and were abandoned, while others continued to be used and were improved. In the late 19th century, efforts were made to mark and commemorate the route, resulting in the placement of markers, some of which are still present along or near its route. In some communities, portions of the original route are named "Crown Point Road" or "Old Crown Point Road". A portion of the route, some of it still in little-altered condition, is found in the area of Stoughton Pond in northern Springfield. This and other nearby portions in Springfield and Weathersfield were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[2]