{"id":7544,"date":"2020-09-22T18:15:56","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T18:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/?p=7544"},"modified":"2021-06-07T10:43:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T10:43:32","slug":"sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update\/","title":{"rendered":"SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER. Dispatch # 80. Crown Point Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7542\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"834\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-292x95.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-1024x333.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-768x250.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-1536x500.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-2048x667.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nNorthwest from 44.029 x 73.4266. The Ruins of Fort St-Frederic, <a href=\"https:\/\/parks.ny.gov\/historic-sites\/34\/details.aspx\">Crown Point State Historic Site<\/a> on Lake Champlain.<\/p>\n<p>Journal-painting begun during a field-trial of new live, online outdoor workshop format, of Friday September 18, 2020. The result was that most of the technology cooperated, and that I now have a means of presenting a workshop live, in real time, outdoors and online. Many plein-air workshops focus on technique, getting to a finished product. The approach I promote is to provide people with the motivation to rediscover the outdoors. Journaling enriches activities like hiking, camping, visiting historic sites and natural wonders. This is not about technique. It&#8217;s a practice that transforms experience into knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>The peninsula north of Riviere de la Chute, which carries water from Lake George into Lake Champlain was militarily strategic because it commands the portages between the Saint Lawrence watershed, Lake Champlain (<em>Pitawbagok<\/em>) Lake George (<em>Kandiatarocte<\/em>) and the Hudson Valley. The eastern corner of Crown Point reaches toward Chimney Point, on the western shoreline of Vermont. \u00a0The vehicular bridge that first spanned the narrows in 1929 was replaced in 2011.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8179\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Chevelure-map.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"491\" height=\"717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Chevelure-map.png 582w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Chevelure-map-205x300.png 205w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Chevelure-map-200x292.png 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><br \/>\nCrown Point, New York. 1759. showing the Grand Fort, the ruins of the French citadel, the disposition of British army camps. Chimney Point, Vermont is seen at top right.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/service-pnp-cph-3a50000-3a52000-3a52100-3a52154r.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"485\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/service-pnp-cph-3a50000-3a52000-3a52100-3a52154r.jpg 1294w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/service-pnp-cph-3a50000-3a52000-3a52100-3a52154r-292x184.jpg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/service-pnp-cph-3a50000-3a52000-3a52100-3a52154r-1024x647.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/service-pnp-cph-3a50000-3a52000-3a52100-3a52154r-768x485.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><br \/>\nThomas Davies. Captain, Royal Artillery. 1737-1812. Southerly View of Crown Point. 1759. Davies went on to become a Lieutenant-General and noted naturalist artist. The curious craft is a timber-clad gunboat.<\/p>\n<p>Reaching fifty miles northward from South Bay, Lake Champlain seems no wider than a river in some places. Beyond Crown Point the waters broaden into a series of expansive bays.\u00a0In pre-colonial days the area between the La Chute and Crown Point was no-man\u2019s-land between territories controlled by the Mohawk nation (<em>Kanienkehake<\/em>) to the south, and the Abenaki to the north and east. In peacetime it served as a meeting-place and trading hub. During periods of hostility, it became a battleground. Having allied themselves with these traditional enemies, the colonial powers of France and Britain found themselves at odds on the same contested ground. Crown Point served a military function again, during the American War of independence when it changed hands several times. Since 1910 the site has been maintained as a park by the State of New York, with picnic areas, a small museum and hiking trails. Champlain Memorial Lighthouse stands on the easternmost tip of the peninsula.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-292x96.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-1024x337.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-768x253.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-1536x505.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Champlain-Brisdge-1-2048x674.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nChamplain Bridge (NY Rte 903\/ VT Rte 17) Looking north from the ruins of Fort St-Frederic. Crown Point, New York.<\/p>\n<p>Crown Point and much of the Champlain region is undergirded with fossilized Ordovician limestone also known as the Chazy Fossil-Reef that stretches from Tennessee to Newfoundland. Formed half a billion years ago, its most recognizable characteristic is a layer-cake of strata. The brittle dark grey rock shatters easily under a hammer-stroke, to reveal one of the most diverse arrays of fossils on Earth. This stone was quarried by the French for material to construct Fort Carillon, later Ticonderoga. It was also quarried at Crown Point (<em>Pointe de Chevelure<\/em>) to build Fort St-Frederic. After 1759 the British built Fort Crown Point with masonry salvaged from the French fortress, augmented with freshly cut stones. Unfinished blocks can still be seen lying near borrow-pits along the shoreline. During the nineteenth century masonry from the historic forts was cannibalized to feed new construction in nearby towns and dwellings. New pits carved out of the ground fed the production of lime.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7504\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-292x270.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-1024x948.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-768x711.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-1536x1422.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4547-2048x1896.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nGraffiti on the rocky ledges, Parade-ground at Ft. Crown Point. Photo: September 2020<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the ruins of eighteenth-century Fort Crown Point, one finds the surrounding moat filled with haps of broken spoil from outcroppings dressed to serve as part of the fort\u2019s outer wall. These surfaces were then covered in masonry, some of which is visible today. Rising up from the parade ground within the fort are several large uptilted rafts of grey limestone. One supposes that General Amherst\u2019s fort had covered these with soil. Perhaps they emerged after the centuries or exposure to the elements. Carved into them are the names of visitors dating back to the nineteenth century. It is hard to imagine red-coated regulars drilling in close formations on such broken ground. These limestone uplifts appear all over the peninsula\u2014some stretching down to the water in broad layered sheets.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7505\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4512-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" \/><\/p>\n<p>My first visit to Crown Point was in the company of noted author James Howard Kunstler in 1992. I was in the midst of a project that explored Civil War battlefields threatened by commercial development.\u00a0 Fitting my narrative as a spectacular military ruin I chose to overlook the hundred and two-year gap between its construction, and the sectional conflict that tore the nation apart in 1861. Since shifting my base this year from Manhattan to the Champlain Valley I made several visits to the site. After completing an inspection of Fort Saint-Frederic, and a circuit of the battlements of Fort Crown Point, my focus shifted from military history to the natural setting. Walking down a grassy track to a wooded finger of land pointing northward into the lake, a small green frog leaped across my path. Stepping from the grassy track onto a rocky shelf, I noticed the residue of macadam. To my left at the bottom of this ramp was a large pit carved out of the bank.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7508\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-292x219.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4223-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nQuarry-pit northwest of Fort Crown Point<\/p>\n<p>Undressed stones lay off to the right. Piles of smaller stones the size of brickbats lay scattered about in heaps. Too small for use as masonry, these would have been piled into one of the lime-kilns that once stood nearby. A cluster of large umbrageous trees at the landward end of the jetty reminded me of a Barbizon painting of Fontainebleau forest. Beyond this grove was a wide rocky beach; a broad crescent reaching westward. Crisscrossed with fractures, long diagonal slabs of limestone angled up from the shoreline. Upon one of these was heaped a gathering of small cairns, different from those I had seen a month ago. Beachcombers set them up. Someone, or something knocks them down. They are reassembled, and then toppled again, like the cycles of nature. Dashed against one of these limestone slabs, a large stone shattered. Instead of coherent fossils within the brittle chunk I found a dense, sparkling charcoal-grey mass variegated with organic patterns of slightly lighter material.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7509\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-292x139.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-1024x487.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-768x365.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-1536x731.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4505-2048x975.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nResting on one of these broad rocky shelves was the spine and pelvis of a medium-sized mammal\u2014perhaps a dog or coyote. A tangle of ribs and rotting lake-grass lay beside it. The absence of blood and the presence of vegetal material led me to wonder if the animal had not drowned. Having washed ashore the rotting carcass might have been dragged onto the rocks by ubiquitous turkey-vultures, leaving scraps from their feast for the gulls and raccoons.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7510\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-292x219.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4239-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nFreshwater oyster-shell, Crown Point \u00a0New York.<\/p>\n<p>Underfoot I find the shells of freshwater clams and oysters nestled among small rocks. Scaling the grassy slope, I pass the sun-bleached skull and bones of a large bass. A couple makes their way from the end of the rip-rap mole back to shore. The woman waved. The man nodded. Body-language suggested they might have met for a tryst. Following the embankment, a gravel road led into the woods. Passing another couple walking a dog, I was greeted with nods and shy looks. Finding a private residence at the end of the road, I backtracked to a cluster of utility sheds overlooking the green mass of Fort Crown Point to the right, the parking-lot, esplanade and Fort St.-Frederic. Spanning the narrows between New York and Vermont, the Champlain Bridge arced up above a wooded grove beside highway 903.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7511\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1135\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-292x129.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-1024x454.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-768x341.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-1536x681.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_4542-2048x908.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\n(Above Ruins of the Barracks at Fort Crown Point. Built ca. 1759. (Below) Aerial view of His Majesty&#8217;s Fort at Crown Point. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8173\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Ft-Crown-Point-aerial.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1129\" height=\"846\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Ft-Crown-Point-aerial.png 1129w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Ft-Crown-Point-aerial-292x219.png 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Ft-Crown-Point-aerial-1024x767.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Ft-Crown-Point-aerial-768x575.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1129px) 100vw, 1129px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The large pentagonal star-fort was built expeditiously. The eastern moat was blasted out of the limestone that undergirds the peninsula. The original walls were timber set on stone footings covered with earth. The barracks were gutted by fire in 1773. Occupying the site in 1775, American troops constructed new shelters and warehouses. Benjamin Franklin visited Crown Point en route to secret negotiations in Montreal. Richard Montgomery assembled his forces here for his invasion of Canada. Half the guns Henry Knox brought to Boston in March of 1776 had come from Fort Crown Point, with the rest from Ticonderoga. As a British fleet entered Lake Champlain in the fall of 1776, Continental forces put their base to the torch, withdrawing behind Montcalm&#8217;s former defenses at Fort Carillon\/Ticonderoga. Having been bested by Burgoyne&#8217;s army the following year, their post was abandoned. In 1910 the military ruins at Crown Point were acquired by the State of New York, to be preserved as a park for public use and recreation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8175\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/CPSHS-MAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"318\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/CPSHS-MAP.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/CPSHS-MAP-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/CPSHS-MAP-189x292.jpg 189w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><br \/>\nMap of Crown Point State Historic Site. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avenzamaps.com\/maps\/355253\/crown-point-state-historic-site-trail-map\">Trail Map LINK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Scanning the site, I was reminded that in June of 1775 one of my ancestors had been here; a thirty-eight-year-old first lieutenant in Griswold\u2019s Fifth Company of Benjamin Hinman\u2019s Fourth Connecticut Regiment. Sixteen years earlier Captain Thomas Davies of the Royal Artillery had produced a detailed watercolor of the facility from a position three hundred yards southeast of where I was standing. From what I could reckon by looking at maps of the period, today\u2019s parking-area had been covered by workshops and warehouses serving the fort. General Amherst and his staff would have been lodged beside a little cove, just beyond the foot of today\u2019s bridge. A picnic area and events-pavilion now stand on the site of an earthen French redoubt. Rangers and indigenous forces were quartered in huts and wigwams near the site of the present-day park-ranger station and maintenance area.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7503\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/1953.0189.001-Drawing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/1953.0189.001-Drawing.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/1953.0189.001-Drawing-292x204.jpg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/1953.0189.001-Drawing-1024x717.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/1953.0189.001-Drawing-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><br \/>\nThomas Davies. 1737-1812. View of Amherst&#8217;s army at Crown Point, 1759. Courtesy Wintherthur Museum, Delaware.<\/p>\n<p>Embellished with picturesque touches, Davies\u2019s finished watercolor is far from na\u00efve in its rendering of the site. Twenty-first-century viewers might mistake topographical accuracy for a lack of optical verisimilitude. Davies was keenly aware that whatever artistic aims his painting might achieve, his primary goal was creating a chorographic vista one could read like a map. A hallmark of expeditionary art is the distortion of scale to render more legible certain features of terrain. I noted this on many occasions when my travels gave me the opportunity to compare the optical experience of beholding terrain with historic depictions more focused on conveying data. Richard Hovenden Kern\u2019s 1849 view from Fort Marcy comes to mind. Standing on the hillock above Santa Fe looking south, one can focus the eye on the Ortiz mountains, Sandia mountains and La Tetilla hill, but taking all together in a single glance, each becomes nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Compressing distant features while minimizing the foreground, Kern privileged data over optics. This gave travelers and readers a guide to prominent landmarks in ways no photograph could. Apart from maximizing mobility the benefit of journal-painting is not in reproducing the appearance of things, but to transform the act of looking into knowledge and ideas\u2014the art of seeing<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7497\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"846\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-292x96.jpg 292w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-1024x338.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-768x254.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-091020104-copy2-2048x677.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><br \/>\nLooking northeast from 44.0308 x 73.4287. On the far shore is Port Henry, New York. In the far distance is Split Rock Mountain.<\/p>\n<p>Follow James Lancel McElhinney and <strong>The Sketchbook Traveler<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Sketchbook-Traveler-186333604898447\/?ref=py_c\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/james-lancel-mcelhinney-2b032715\/\">Linkedin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jameslancel\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jameslancel\/\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/sketchbook-traveler-quaranteam-dispatches-march-31-to-june-8-2020\/\">Peruse previous posts here. Dispatches #1-70. April 1-June 8, 2020.<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/sketchbook-traveler-quaranteam-dispatches-march-31-to-june-8-2020\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6057\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2020-Blog-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"352\" height=\"295\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now Available to Own<a href=\"https:\/\/www.schifferbooks.com\/sketchbook-traveler-hudson-valley-6989.html\">: Hardcover. $24.95. From Schiffer Publishing. 2020.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7265\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/978-0-7643-6042-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"345\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/978-0-7643-6042-8.jpg 345w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/978-0-7643-6042-8-236x300.jpg 236w, https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/978-0-7643-6042-8-230x292.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 345px) 100vw, 345px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northwest from 44.029 x 73.4266. The Ruins of Fort St-Frederic, Crown Point State Historic Site on Lake Champlain. Journal-painting begun during a field-trial of new live, online outdoor workshop format, of Friday September 18, 2020. The result was that most of the technology cooperated, and that I now have a means of presenting a workshop &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER. Dispatch # 80. Crown Point Update<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER. Dispatch # 80. Crown Point Update -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER. Dispatch # 80. Crown Point Update -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Northwest from 44.029 x 73.4266. The Ruins of Fort St-Frederic, Crown Point State Historic Site on Lake Champlain. Journal-painting begun during a field-trial of new live, online outdoor workshop format, of Friday September 18, 2020. The result was that most of the technology cooperated, and that I now have a means of presenting a workshop &hellip; Continue reading SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER. Dispatch # 80. Crown Point Update &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-22T18:15:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-07T10:43:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Crown-Point-09182020105-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James L. Mcelhinney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James L. Mcelhinney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/sketchbook-traveler-dispatch-80-crown-point-update\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James L. Mcelhinney\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/#\/schema\/person\/a84ee3e94a50ad6214a495bf690a8988\"},\"headline\":\"SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER. Dispatch # 80. 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