Larrabee’s Point

John Larrabee established the first regular ferry here under a grant from the Vermont Legislature when the only business at the site was his tavern. In 1823, the year the Champlain Canal opened, Larrabee and Samuel Holley built a store and a warehouse. A lively trade with inland towns soon supported three stores, all supplied directly from Troy or Albany. Among the goods exported from Larrabee’s Point, Merino sheep commanded the highest prices. Shoreham farmers bred some of the most famous ewes in the country and shipped them to western ranchers from this dock, a practice that helped undermine the Vermont wool industry. Travelers could catch a line boat down the lake or a packet through the canal. On his way to Fort Ticonderoga in 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne observed the continual succession of travelers waiting for the ferry boat. The buildings clustered around this landing are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the hotels have disappeared, including the Lake House Hotel, which offered lawn tennis, boating, bathing, fishing, and dancing in 1871.

Shoreham, Vermont · United States