Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-10-22
NJ NEIL's FERRY; PAST AND PRES
EMIT

| to 1t as an "old landmark" How much
of landmark" 1t really Is, or now I'M
| portant to business relations IL was III
an earlier day hardly one in ten or the
present readers of the Free Press nave
the remotest idea. Now and then one of
the older residents of Charlotte ana al
joining towns knows something about IL
from observations: but the middle-aged
business men of to-day depend upon
| tradition If they wish to know anything
about the" ferry" as it was ana even
tradition, in this age of newspapers ana
books, grows dim and uncertain over the
events of sixty or seventy years ago.
| Perhaps the public will forgive me Tor
| attempting to detain them little, ana Tor
putting into print, facts ana recoilec-
| lions. some of them from the land records
of Charlotte.
|. In 1892, Charles Mcneil of Litchtield,
| Conn. obtained on tax sale, lot NO. ~
and the south-half of No. 100, racing
the whole of McNeils Point, then called
| ALIENS Point" where Cedar Beach Is
now located. The first ferry ran from
Cedar Beach bay to Essex, n. y, and
only few years ago old dock tlmpers
were in existence and could easily be
seen. Near the point was home that
accommodated the travelling public and
probably Charles Mcneil owned the ferry.
! At that time a highway ran partly along
| the line of present travel on the CEDAR
Beach road past the head of Converse
bay, meeting the present road few rods
south of where it now does. ana near
where James f. McNeils house once
stood; the building being at present on
Dennis Toner'S farm, moved there by Mr..
| Mcneil This early ferry did business for
number of years-how long, it seems
difficult to asccrtain-but later on, another
was established that came to he known
far and near as "McNeil's Ferry" It
/ lNa -1aFtts NTatt4
! is. on the Wintherbotham purchase.
| In 1881 Ethan Allen of Bennington sold
TO John Mcneil the father of Charles
Mcneil End. the north half of lot No.
] 49, and in 1872 John Mcneil bought, on tax
sale the north half of lot No. l2o and the
south half of lot No. 119 This gave John
! Mcneil three hundred acres mbracing
the ferry farm" Whatever the bust
ness rivalries that tradition says existed
between the two brothers on account of
their ferries, the one on the John Nc
Neil purchase survived and in time an
| immense traffic was done at this point.
| The first ferry was of course sail boat,
but as business increased moro certain
means for regular communication were
adopted. and about seventy years ago,
a horse boat was built for the purpose
at Shelburne harbor This boat was own
ed by Mcneil and Ross. Charles Mcneil,
the father of William Mcneil, Of Shell
burne, living on this side and Henry II.
Ross in Essex. n Y. Present readers may
not understand the methods Of horse
boating. The boat was a side wheeler,
and power was conveyed from an i'm
mense wheel lying horizontal with the
deck or little below It, connecting by
cogs with the side wheel shaft This hori-
zontal wheel was propelled by six horses
three on a side, walking on lags or tread
power, on the principal of horse power
/ r o.
ged and hitched back by side tugs 10
whiffletrees or hooks. The pull of the
horses conveyed the power to the wheel
underfoot. 1t was a hard place for horses
and an occasional break in the planks
or laEs meant a broken leg every time
The captain Harvey Hinckley, was en-
gineer-in chief, and the fuel was whip
and an increased demand for speed meant
more energetic application of rawhide
The captain took turns in living, one
season in Essex and another on the Char
lotte side. When here, Mcneil kept the
horses on hay and grain, and Ross did the
same in turn The small red house. or
the easterly lake road was the captain
homo when here. The building now
standing east of the homestead was the
ferry tavern" and il had a great RIM
of custom. for there was not only ferry
ing, but a great many back county peo-
pie came to McNeil's to meet the line
regularly
twice day in their trips from Whitehall
to St. Johns. Hinesburgh, Huntington
and Starksboro people, for the most part
came to this point to ship their produce
and get their Troy and Albany freights
In addition to the line boats, a fleet OF
sloop rugged canal boats were constantly
going and coming, loaded with all kinds
of commodities They would sail up the
lake to Whitehall where "Billey Kane
the rieger," as he was called would take
down the mast and sails so the boats
could go through the Champlain cana
to Troy, and from there by tug boats
to New York or elsewhere. On the return
trip, Kane would replace mast and sails
and the voyage northward would be re.
Fumed, There was then little or nc
towing on Lake Champlan, Each boa
went alone, and a strong south vino
was pretty sure to bring a dozen tC
twenty white winged freights around thC
headland of Split Rock The ferry
was generally sure of a liberal consign
ment of heavy merchandise. salt, sugar
molasses, now and then. possibly a quar-
bottle of "Old Holland" besides dry good.
and notions, for country merchants die
not order goods by telephone those days
and going to market was a long LOOKED
for and momentous occasion.
The horse boat was a money-maknf
venture for her owners, and II is exceed
ingly unfortunate that her name remain.
unattainable. 1t is hoped some ono cal
supply the missing link. She was sched
, uled for three trips day, morning, moor
and night, but stood ready for more thar
this on call. Her capacity was by M
means inconsderable. and she needed /
, to accommodate the cattle traffic between
Essex and McNeils
In those days Jack Simonds did an i'm
mense business butchering cattle in Shore
ham, Addison county and great drove.
of beeves were picked up in northern New
York, largely in St Lawrence county
driven to the vicinity Of Essex and Their,
held on adjoining farms until ferrieC
across. seVenty-hve to a hundred at
time. On this side the lunches were helt
until the entire drove was over, whel
the drive would be resumed to Simond
: slaughter yards. IT was no uncommon
thing to see McNeil's pastures and mead
ows crowded with cattle after haying anC
harvesting, when the handling was tn,
| liveliest At that time the Society o
| Friends was strong in this section an,
, their yearly, or more frequent meetings
took them in great numbers 10 the Yorl
2 state side and the ferry" was their oh
iectvc coming and going. In the oil,
horse boat days. ST. Lawrence count!
vas West" and Ohio was Way West.
Probably many a St. Lawrence com
, munity can to-day trace its ancestry bacl
, TO Vermonters. for scores of them wen
there. and, "McNeils" was a house hOl,
r word, long to be remembered. and man,
longing eye looked back over the thre
70 miles of blue water, before crossing tn
mountains, to catch last glimpse of IL
rocky shore, for over there were the i'm