Point au Fer was once an important strategic military post on Lake Champlain. The northern half of the lake had been controlled by the French, but on June 6, 1760, during the French and Indian War, British Army Major Robert Rogers and his rangers engaged a French force nearby at Scales Point and pushed them into Canada. After 1763, Britain controlled all of Lake Champlain, including Point au Fer, and in 1774 the British built a garrison known as the "White House." In May 1775, a small American force gained control of the fort. In June 1776, American General John Sullivan added an entrenchment around the fort at the creek corner and a 12-foot wooden stockade lined with cannon. Benjamin Franklin landed here on his way to Montreal at this time, and Benedict Arnold, Charles Carroll, and Ethan Allen also stopped here. After the Battle of Valcour in 1776, the Americans lost control of Point au Fer. Half of General John Burgoyne's British army camped here in July 1777 on the way to Saratoga, where they were defeated. After the Revolutionary War, the British occupied the garrison for 20 more years, and British Captain John Steele used his gunboat Maria to patrol the lake from here. He built a small garden at Stony Point that was referred to as Steele's Garden for decades. The Jay Treaty ended British occupation of Point au Fer. The fort was burned by a French refugee in 1805. During the War of 1812, American soldiers camped around the ruins while watching for British naval activities in the northern part of the lake. The State of New York had Point au Fer surveyed into three lots and auctioned off in 1809. Thirty years later, George Rochester bought some property at the tip of the island from John Walker, and Rochester descendants still live there. Around 1870, Richard Scales purchased Lot No. 2 and built his house on the ruins of the old garrison, using the fort's stonework for the cellar, and the house still stands.
