Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2

The same night we stopped at Burlington in Vermont, and the Grymes’ family left us here to go to Boston. I expected to meet this interesting family again in New York in fourteen days. Towards morning we passed the ruins of Fort Crownpoint, which lie on a hill. At this place the lake is very narrow and resembles a river. The shores are generally covered with bushes and pine trees, are hilly, and afford a pleasing prospect. At the village of Shoreham, twelve miles above Crownpoint, on the eastern shore of Vermont, we left the Phœnix, which went twenty miles further to Whitehall, the southern point of Lake Champlain, and landed to see Lake George, which is celebrated for its romantic situation and shores. Sir Michael and Lady Clare continued with us, and resolved not to part from us till we arrived at Albany, after which they would travel to Boston. As a slight recompense for the loss of the Grymes’ family, Mr. Shoemaker, and his wife, from Philadelphia, bore us company hence to Albany. They were Quakers, but had laid aside the striking costume of their sect.

At the inn of Shoreham is a place for loading and unloading vessels, which transport much plaster of Paris and blue limestone for building, to Canada. Among the stones on the shore we found some which appeared to be rich iron ore, said to be common in Vermont. At the inn we met with an elderly lady of the middle rank, who was smoking tobacco; this custom is said to be prevalent here among elderly women. We passed over the lake, scarcely half a mile wide, in a wherry, and landed on the other shore, not far from the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga. This in an old French fort, lying on an elevated cape, which commands the navigation of the lake. From the ruins we saw that it was a square with four small bastions and three ravelins, the scarp, and the counterscarp being covered with strong stone-work; the bastion contains casemates as well as the curtain of the eastern front. Several massive buildings stood in the fort so that it must have had but little room. About three hundred paces east of the fort, on the extremity of the cape, stands a small pentagonal redoubt, which communicated with the fort by means of a covered way. The cape is connected with the main land of New York by means of a neck of land, which was cut off by a crownwork, consisting of earth. The eminence on which this crownwork lies, in some measure commands the fort, and an entrenched camp seems to have been located here. Between the fort and crownwork we remarked the remains of two square redoubts. On the same shore, south of the fort, but separated from it by an inlet of the lake, lies Mount Defiance, which commands the fort in a great degree, and from which, in July, 1777, the English, under General Burgoyne, bombarded the fort, which was too quickly evacuated by the Americans, under General St. Clair. On the eastern shore of the lake, opposite Ticonderoga, lies another hill, Mount Independence, of the same height as the fort on which the Americans had formed their works at that time, under the protection of which they passed the lake after the evacuation of the fort. This was afterwards destroyed by the English. In July, 1758, when the fort still belonged to the French, the English attacked it, but were repulsed with a loss of eighteen hundred men.

From Ticonderoga we went in a stage three miles further to Lake George, through a very hilly country. The level of this lake is about three hundred feet higher than that of Lake Champlain; the stream which flows from the former into the latter lake, forms a succession of small cascades, and turns several saw-mills. We arrived at the northern point of Lake George, and entered the steam-boat Mountaineer, which was ready to depart; it was ninety feet long with a machine of sixteen horse-power.

Lake George resembles the Scottish lakes. It is thirty-six miles long, and never more than five miles broad. The shores are very hilly, the heights are all covered with trees, and are not, as it seems to me, above eight hundred feet high. There are several islands in the lake, generally covered with wood. A single one, called Diamond Island, on account of the handsome crystals which are found in it, is inhabited. The inhabitants consist of an Indian family, which lives in a small house, and maintains itself by selling these crystals. About five o’clock in the evening, we arrived at the southern point of the lake. The scenery is very handsome. One of the highest mountains, which rises perpendicularly out of the lake, is called Rodgers’ rock, after an American Captain Rodgers, who being hunted by the Indians, during the revolution, fled to the top of this rock, and in extremely cold weather, being urged by danger, glided on the smooth surface down to the frozen lake. Towns are not seen; but few single houses stand along the shore. At the southern extremity, however, lies the village of Caldwell, founded about twenty years ago, which, besides a very good and large inn, where we took lodgings, contains several neat houses. In former times, an English fort, William Henry, stood here, which, to judge from its few remains, must have been a square redoubt of earth. It was built in the year 1755, by order of Sir William Johnstone, who commanded the English army in the then colony of New York, after having completely routed, on September the 8th, 1755, a French corps which had come from Ticonderoga to attack him. In this rencontre, Baron Dieskau, a French general lost his life. In the following year, however, Marquis de Montcalm arrived with a stronger force and captured the fort. A capitulation was allowed to the English garrison, but they were attacked after leaving the fort, by the Indians, in a disgraceful manner, and the greater part cut to pieces. After the fort was taken, the Marquis de Montcalm ordered it to be destroyed. Not far from this place, in a higher station and on a rocky ground, the English erected afterwards a new fort, called Fort George, which, at the unsuccessful expedition of General Burgoyne, in 1777, served his army as a depôt and magazine, till he moved too far forward and was cut off from the fort. Remains of it are still plainly seen. It was a strongly-built square redoubt, the entrance being protected by a fleche. It lies in an advantageous situation, commands the whole southern shore of the lake, with a large part of the vicinity, stands, as was said before, on a strong ground, and is covered on one side by a morass. On the eastern side alone, it is commanded by a high mountain, which, however, is at some distance. If the American government should resolve to restore Crownpoint and Ticonderoga, the latter particularly would be adapted, after fortifying the two mountains, Defiance and Independence, for an arsenal of a superior kind; it might contain large depôts, serve as a fortified camp, and be successfully defended by a small garrison. Here fleets might be completed to command Lake Champlain, and an expedition against Isle Aux Noix and Canada organized. However, a good road would be necessary, leading from Ticonderoga to the northern point of Lake George, three miles distant, and here it would be necessary to protect the place of embarkation by a fort. A new fort on the same spot where Fort George was erected, would be necessary. There is a good locality between this fort and Fort William Henry to found a dock-yard. The communication between Ticonderoga and the United States would be well and doubly protected by the southern point of Lake Champlain, towards Whitehall, and by Lake George. If the English should attack the United States on this side, they would undoubtedly waste much strength, and not advance a step, unless they had seized Ticonderoga.

We left Caldwell at eight o’clock the next day, September 11, in two inconvenient carriages, and passed through a very uninteresting, deep, sandy road, in a hilly country, covered with thorny trees, on our route to Saratoga springs, to which the whole fashionable world of the United States repairs in summer, for the fashionables have here the same mania which prevails in other countries, to visit the baths in summer, whether sick or well. The distance is twenty-seven miles. On our passage, we saw but one interesting object – the Hudson falls, which river we had left at Albany, and reached again nine miles from Caldwell, coming from the west.

These falls are known under the name of Glenn’s Falls. A village of the same name is built in their vicinity, on the rocky shores of the river. The river is crossed by means of a pendant wooden bridge. The arches rest on pillars, consisting of large beams, which lie across each other, as tit-mouse traps are constructed in my native country; the bridge might therefore be called bird-cage bridge. These cages rest on a foundation of limestone, cut through by the Hudson in its course. This river is really a remarkable sight in this sandy country. Above the bridge it is one hundred and sixty yards broad, and crossed by a dam, which conducts the water to the saw-mills along the banks. A single rock, on which, also, a saw-mill stands, divides into two parts, the principal fall, which is forty feet high. But there are, both above and below the principal falls, a number of smaller falls, which we could approach with ease, as the water was very low. These falls are not indeed to be numbered among the largest, but among the handsomest falls which I have seen. A constant mist arises from them, and, as the sun shone very brilliantly, we saw several rainbows at the same time. In the rock, as at Niagara, we observed some remarkable and deep cavities. They arise from the flintstones which are scattered throughout the limestone, and are washed away by the violence of the water. When these flintstones meet with resistance, or fall into a small cavity, they are constantly agitated by the falling water, and moving in a circular direction, form by degrees deep cavities in the soft limestone. At the base of the small island, which divides the chief fall into two parts, a remarkable cave appears below the falls, leading to the other side of the rock; this was also undoubtedly made by the washing of the water. The saw-mills, all of wood, occupy a bold position over the falls, and appear besides, to be in such a state of decay, that a fear arises, lest they should soon fall into the abyss. The Hudson is partly navigable above Glenn’s Falls, and two miles further up, feeds a navigable canal, with thirteen locks, which runs seven miles north of the Hudson, and then joins Champlain canal.

We arrived at Saratoga at two o’clock in the afternoon, and stopped at Congress Hall. The greater part of the company had already departed, so that but forty persons remained; among these was the governor of the state of New York, the celebrated De Witt Clinton.10 I was immediately introduced to his excellency, and very well received by this great statesman.

The water of the springs is cold, of a somewhat salt taste, and stronger than the mineral water of Eger. It is said to act very beneficially as a tonic. When this region was yet covered with forests, inhabited principally by Indians, and by few white people, the Indians were acquainted with the virtues of this water; only one spring, however, High Rock Spring, was discovered. They led to it the above-mentioned Sir William Johnstone, who was much beloved by the Indians, and in a bad state of health. By drinking this water he regained his health, and thus this spring became known. It is not above twelve years since a beginning was made to clear the ground, and build houses; at present, more than a hundred, principally of wood, form a street. They are generally arranged to receive strangers. The four largest hotels are Congress Hall, Union Hall, the Pavilion, and the United States Hotel, the last of brick, the three former of wood. Congress Hall alone, was yet open, the others had closed since September 1st, on account of the frost. The hotel can accommodate two hundred strangers. In the evening the company assembles in the large halls in the lower story, at this season, alas! by the fire, and pass the time in music, dancing, or conversation. Games of chance are strictly forbidden by the laws of the state, and in general, public opinion in the United States is much against gaming. I was told that at a watering-place in Pennsylvania, three genteel young men once arrived from different parts of the United States. They were at first very well received, but afterwards were found to be gamblers. All communication with them was immediately broken off in so striking a manner that they were soon obliged to leave the place.

The different springs, which do not lie far from each other in a swampy ground in the same valley, are called Hamilton, Congress, Columbia, Flat Rock, Munroe, High Rock, President, and Red Spring. The water is generally drank, but baths are also erected. High Rock Spring flows from a white conical limestone rock, five feet high, in which there is a round aperture above, about nine inches in diameter, through which the water in the spring is seen in a state of constant agitation. So much fixed air escapes from it, that an animal held over it, as in the Grotto del Cane, near Naples, cannot live above half a minute. Mr. Shoemaker held his head over the opening, and though he had covered it with a handkerchief, immediately fainted away; he retained besides, during several days after this experiment, a bad dry cough. The vicinity of Saratoga Springs possesses no attraction. Promenades are not yet constructed. The only pleasure which can be enjoyed must be sought in company. A large piazza is built before Congress Hall, to the pillars of which wild vines are attached, which almost reach the roof. I passed the evening in the lower parlour by the fire, with the governor and Mr. Schley, from Maryland, in very agreeable and instructive conversation. The ladies did not entertain us with music, because it was Sunday.

The governor had the kindness to give me some letters for New York, and a letter of introduction to the Shakers of New Lebanon. Furnished with these, we left Saratoga Springs, September 12th, at 9 o’clock, in a convenient stage to go to Albany, thirty-six miles distant. We passed through a disagreeable and sandy country. The uniformity was, however, very pleasingly interrupted by Saratoga lake, which is eight miles long. At Stillwater village, we reached the Hudson. Not far from this, runs the new Champlain Canal, which was commenced at the same time with the Erie Canal, but is not yet completed, and which I mentioned on my passage from Albany to Schenectady. At Stillwater we visited the two battle-grounds, Freeman’s Farm and Bernis’s Heights, which became celebrated September 19th, and October 7th, 1777. These actions, as is known, took place during the expedition of Burgoyne. They closed with taking the whole corps of this general, to which also the Brunswick troops, under General Von Riedesel belonged, at Saratoga.

Our guide to both battle-grounds, which are adjacent, was an octogenarian farmer, called by his neighbours Major Buel, because he had been the guide of the American army during the campaign. The ground has since greatly changed; wood has grown again, so that with the exception of some remains of the English lines, nothing is to be seen. Not far from the river, on an eminence, are the remains of a very small work, called the great English redoubt. Here lies General Fraser, of whose burial Madam Von Riedesel gives a description so attractive, and yet so terrific. I broke off, near his grave, a small branch of a pine tree to present it to Baron Von Riedesel, Land-marshal of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. I inquired after the house in which the mother of the latter had lived, and in which General Fraser died. This house stands no longer on the original spot, as the canal passed through its site; in other respects it is said to be arranged now, as it was then. The place in the bar-room, where General Frazer died, and a small room behind this, in which Madam Von Riedesel lived with her children, were shown me.

At the small town of Waterford we passed along the left shore of the Hudson on a long wooden bridge, to avoid a bad bridge over the Mohawk. We proceeded on our route in the night on a very good road, and passed through Lansingburg and Troy. The latter is very handsomely built, and many stores are very well lighted up in the evening. Here we returned to the right shore of the Hudson, and reached Albany at 10 o’clock at night.

On the 13th of September I went with Mr. Tromp in a stage-coach to New Lebanon, twenty-eight miles from Albany to see the settlement of Shakers. We passed through Greenbush, (where the team-boat put us on the left side of the Hudson,) Schodack, Union, Stephentown, and Canaan. The country about New Lebanon is extremely handsome; the tops of the mountains are covered with trees, and the lower parts well cultivated. The valley is wide, with very neat houses, and resembles a garden. Fruit is particularly cultivated. On a slight eminence at the foot of a mountain, the Shaker village is very beautifully situated, and is about one mile long. The houses stand in groups at a distance from each other, in general large, built of wood, and painted yellow; the church alone, or rather the meeting-house, is wide, with an arched roof of slate.

The Shakers are a religious sect, originally from England. It was founded by Ann Lee, the daughter of a Manchester blacksmith, and wife of the blacksmith Stanley, of the same city. Her chief doctrines are, community of goods, a perfect continence with regard to the sexes and adoration of the Deity by dancing. Ann Lee pretended to higher inspiration, performed miracles, announced the speedy reappearance of Christ on earth, spoke of the millennium, and of similar glories. She commenced in England, by making proselytes among the lowest classes, who followed her when she preached in public, held noisy prayer, or rather, dancing meetings, and thus disturbed the public peace. This worthy prophetess was therefore, with her friends, at different times imprisoned; the impatient and unbelieving public even began once to stone her. The good soul, whose convulsions were said by the wicked world to be the effect of ardent spirits, wandered therefore, in 1774, with her family, and several of her friends, to New York, where she settled. But her husband was wearied with the sisterly connexion in which he lived with her, and resolved to divorce his sisterly wife, and marry another. Whereupon the repudiated wife wandered towards Albany, settled first at Watervliet, and held meetings. These meetings, however, appeared to the Americans so suspicious, (it was during the time of the revolution,) that the good lady was arrested at Albany with several of her friends, and transported to the neighbourhood of New York, in order to give her in charge to the English, who then held the city. But she soon returned again to Watervliet, and her faithful adherents bought land near Niskayuna, between Albany and Schenectady, and settled there. A large part of this people, those particularly who had joined the sect in America, founded the colony of New Lebanon. Ann Lee died in Niskayuna, in 1784. As this sect conducted itself very quietly, and gave no public offence, the government allowed them to live in peace. The colony numbers about six hundred members, who are divided into families, some of which contain above one hundred individuals of both sexes. Each lives in a group of houses with an elder at their head. The elders of all the families form a counsel, which watches for the public good. They have for divine service a sort of preachers, two of each sex, who hold forth on Sundays. The greatest cleanliness prevails in the houses, equalled perhaps only by the hospital of Boston; the brethren live on one side, and the sisters on the other. They have a common eating-room, in which again each sex has its own side, but different working places. Both the brethren and the sisters live, generally, two individuals in one room, and two also sleep in the same bed. Many of the sisters, however, notwithstanding their good food, were pale and wan.

When a family wishes to join the Shakers, the relation of brother and sister, must immediately take place between husband and wife. The children are then brought up in Shaker principles. Orphans also find a home with them; still, however, unfavourable reports are circulated about the origin of these orphans. Of course, if the principles of these people should prevail, which, however, may heaven prevent, the world would soon be depopulated. In countries, however, with too great population, it might perhaps be of service to receive missionaries of this sect and promote proselytism.

Every family possesses a shop, where all things made by the family are laid out for sale. These articles generally consist of wooden utensils, sieves, brushes, harness, table-linen, somewhat coarse silver writing pens, very good rose water, &c. Besides, they sell books, exposing the doctrines of their sect, and containing the life of their founder, Ann Lee, whom they call mother Ann. They pay also much attention to the breeding of cattle, make good butter, and particularly good cheese, great quantities of which they sell. Their hogs are remarkably handsome, and cleanliness is also extended to them. It is a rare pleasure to walk about in a Shaker pig-sty! They have a large kitchen garden behind the church, where they raise vegetables, principally for the sake of seed, which is said to be here of a remarkably good kind. Medicinal herbs, roots, and berries, which they cultivate very carefully in a separate garden, and which, as I heard in Albany, are of a remarkably good quality, form a principal part of their commerce.

The governor’s letter every where procured me a good reception, as they generally lead strangers about the settlement with reluctance. The few men with whom I spoke, and who accompanied me, were elderly people, and had long ago become Shakers with their parents. An old man told me, that he had been one of the first adherents of mother Ann at her arrival in America. They were very polite to me, and appear to be somewhat monkish. They showed me also their church, which they do not generally do, Sundays excepted, as every body can attend their worship. My travelling plan did not allow me to pass a Sunday with them. The hall, which serves as their church, is about eighty feet long, and above fifty broad. On one side stand benches in form of an amphitheatre, for spectators and old members, to whom the dancing has become difficult. The floor consists of handsome cedar wood, which is well polished; the boards are attached to each other without nails. Service commences, as I was told, with a speech, which the congregation hear in a standing position, the sexes being again divided. Occasionally the spirit comes upon one or the other; they are so moved by the speech, that they begin to shake, and to make strange contortions. Then begin the prayers, which are sung, and during which, they dance. Every member has a spot about four feet square for jumping, and I was assured this service was done with such a zeal, that the vaulters sometimes fainted away.

We delayed too long with the Shakers to follow our plan of previously visiting Lebanon springs, and reach Albany the same day. We consequently gave up this design and returned to Albany; we were overtaken by the night, and a storm. It was so dark, that the driver could scarcely find the way; he therefore took a lantern against my advice. This was extinguished, and we were in a still worse situation. Two miles from Greenbush the driver left the road, went to the right towards a slope, and almost threw the stage entirely over; it fell on the right side, and my head and arm were injured, though but slightly. On my right side I was much more hurt, and one of my ribs was actually broken, as it was afterwards discovered. Mr. Tromp had his head and one of his hands injured. As we had no baggage, and were but two miles from Greenbush, we resolved to leave the stage where it was, and walked to Greenbush. At about eleven o’clock we reached the river. Not a soul was in the street; the lights were all extinguished, and the ferry boats were on the other side of the river. Our shouting was of no avail; the pain in my side also prevented me from calling. In about half an hour, however, the stage arrived, which the driver had raised with the help of some farmers; and he made such a terrible noise, that at last, after waiting an hour, the ferry boats came to take us to Albany. In riding through the city the jolting of the stage gave me much pain. On leaving the stage at twelve o’clock I could scarcely speak or walk on account of my side, which I had also injured two years previously, on my passage from Ostend to London, and since that time it had constantly retained a painful sensation.