It was a wooden-and-stone lakefront structure, an 18th century naval dock. However, it was not until 1992, that the old wharf, located at the south end of Lake George, was recognized as a local landmark.
On Flag Day, June 14, 1992, a blue-and-yellow historic marker, entitled “Military Dock,” was commemorated. The ceremony was organized by the Lake George Historical Association and Bateaux Below, the latter an underwater archaeological organization that studied Lake George shipwrecks.
The $400 metal sign was funded from proceeds of the 1991 Shipwreck Weekend conference that convened at the Lake George Historical Association, located in the Old Courthouse building in the village.
In 1758, during the French & Indian War (1755–1763), British General James Abercromby’s troops erected the pier. The sturdy wharf was necessary because the British began to construct larger warships — the sloop Earl of Halifax, some row galleys, and a floating gun battery called the Land Tortoise radeau.
The dock, located east of the ruins of Fort William Henry (1755–1757), was used by British General Jeffery Amherst’s 11,000 soldiers and 800 warships in his 1759 campaign that ousted the French from the Champlain Valley.
It was also utilized in the American Revolution (1775–1783). After being burned and rebuilt by invading and occupation armies, the quay’s upper works disappeared. Vestiges of it still lie underwater and beneath a sandy beach.
Throughout the years, the solid-crib pier has been mentioned in the literature record. In 1819, Dr. Benjamin Silliman, a professor at Yale College, today’s Yale University, toured the remains of Fort George.
According to Dr. Russell P. Bellico’s book, Chronicles of Lake George, Silliman wrote: “At this place, although principally covered by the water, are the ruins of the old military quay or pier, formerly extending a good way into the lake.”
A 1910 article in the Burlington Free Press and Times reported, “The foundations of the old military dock… still exist under the water at the shore.”
In the early 20th century, cartographer Seneca Ray Stoddard showed the location of the “sunken pier” on his Lake George bathymetric chart.
In August 1939, local officials installed a 22-foot x 10-foot float on the lake “anchored at the end of the old Military Dock just off Fort George Park.” Decades ago, the 3 ½ ton flotation served hydroplanes at Lake George.
In February 1947, harness racing was held on the ice-covered waterway. Cars entered onto the frozen lake “near the old military dock on the Beach Road.”
During construction of Million Dollar Beach in 1950, a “23 pound” cannonball was discovered seven feet down at the colonial wharf site.
Bateaux Below completed a survey of the submerged pier in 2003. Ground penetrating radar, directed by the group’s Vince Capone in 2002, imaged the buried section of the pier, found under several feet of sand. Following dozens of scuba dives at the site by the maritime archaeologists, Bateaux Below’s Bob Benway completed a CAD-generated drawing of the submerged wharf.
In 2010, the historic pier was featured in Wooden Bones–The Sunken Fleet of 1758, an award-winning documentary by Pepe Productions, in partnership with Bateaux Below. The film was shown at Gray’s Reef Ocean Film Festival in Savannah, Georgia and was named co-winner of the “Maritime Heritage Category” award at the event.
The surviving remnants of the aged wharf are out-of-sight to pedestrian visitors. Fortunately, the “Military Dock” signage informs tourists of the landing site’s notable history. According to heritage preservation laws, it is a crime to damage the 18th century waterfront structure.
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
Illustration: Detail from a painting showing the pier at Fort William Henry, ca 1758, and the full painting from which it’s detailed (Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance); and a 2019 photograph of the “Military Dock” marker that was erected in 1992 near the location of a wharf (Joseph W. Zarzynski).
Source link
