Crown Point

“ Crown-Point was immediately abandoned by the provincials, who ran for their lives to Ticonderoga. This fort was deemed too strong to be successfully attacked, at so advanced a season of the year, and Carleton, having strengthened the British fleet so as to ensure the command of Lake Champlain, evacuated Crown-Point of which he had taken possession, and returned to Quebec, where he exerted himself during the winter in making preparation for the next campaign. At the same time General Burgoyne returned to England. ”

“ The Finke channel passes to the east of both Crown Hill and station. The river here is thickly fringed with giant gums, which grow for some hundreds of feet in from the bank proper. Swamp gums, box trees, and acacias are plentiful also further out. In width it varies from a quarter to three-quarters of a mile. In times of drought famished horses have been known to paw down and down into the loose sand in the bed, searching for soakage water, until they have made graves for themselves.
Around Crown Point the cyclist need not look for thorns. He will find them without a search. ”

“ Next the Yellow-Jacket and the Crown Point connected, and the draught was southward to the Crown Point. The Alpha and the Imperial next connected, and the draught went south to the Jacket. When the Gould and Curry and the Savage connected, the draught went south to the Savage. When connection was made between the Ophir and the Consolidated Virginia, the air went south to the Consolidated. ”

“ No other ruin has impressed us quite in the same way, but then Crowland Abbey has a striking individuality seen from near or afar; it is utterly unlike any other spot, and from every point of view forms a most effective picture. Time has fraught its ancient walls with meaning, and the rare dower of antiquity, the bloom of centuries is gathered over them all—a bloom that has beautified what man and age have left of the former hallowed sanctuary. Now a solemn peacefulness broods incumbent over Crowland’s solitary tower, broken arches, and decaying masonry. ”

“ Nature hides waste and forgets pain. Near to this village is Crown Hill, where the crown of England was taken from a hawthorn bush, whereon it had been cast, in the frenzied confusion of defeat, after the battle of Bosworth was over and the star of King Richard had been quenched in death. Crown Hill is a green meadow now, without distinguishing feature, except that two large trees, each having a double trunk, are growing in the middle of it. Not distant from this historic spot stands Higham-on-the-Hill, where there is a fine church, remarkable for its Norman tower. ”

“ Conspicuous among these knolls is Crown Hill, the home of the Waltons. Unique as an island in its individual charm, its gentle slopes are surrounded on all sides by traveled roads which define perfectly its boundaries, while they protect from intrusion the low-gabled country house which stands in the heart of six acres, cresting hospitably the hill. The landscape upon all sides is strikingly beautiful. ”

“ To style Chair Ladder and the other rocky spires neighbouring it piles of rock is by no means straining language, for they have exactly the appearance of having been heaped one upon another by some superhuman energy, the granite cubes being jointed like so many blocks of rude cyclopean masonry. The coast here indeed displays some of the most curious imitative forms in natural architecture, and every point and every little porth has its old Cornish name. ”

“ A remarkable point, which I named Corny Point, bearing S. 73° W. three miles, was the furthest land visible to the westward; its latitude, from meridian observations of Jupiter and the moon, is 34° 52′ south, and longitude from the time keepers 137° 61⁄2′ east. Between this point and Point Pearce, twenty-eight miles to the north-north-east, is a large bay, well sheltered from all southern winds, and none others seem to blow with much strength here. The land trends eastward about seven leagues, from Corny Point to the head of the bay ”

“ Crowland is a thoroughly old-world village; I know no other that so well deserves the epithet: its gray-toned cottages, grouped round the decayed and time-rent fane, save the ruins from utter desolation. Crowland impressed us as a spot that exists simply because it has existed: like the abbey, it looks so old that one can hardly imagine it was ever new. ”

“ Besides unusual golf facilities another feature appealing to the hardy and sound are the cliff paths, mere coastguard tracks, unfenced and unspoilt, which circle the whole coast. Those who keep to roads will never see the real Cornwall and that is why so many motor-bound souls miss it. One may wander for days on these cliff paths, lured on from point to point and bay to bay, always rejoicing in something new or glorious, something which beckons onward. ”

“ Both these islands appeared very pleasant, having spots of green savannahs mixed among the woodland: the trees appeared very green and flourishing, and some of them looked white and full of blossoms. We passed close by Crown Isle; saw many coconut-trees on the bays and the sides of the hills; and one boat was coming off from the shore but returned again. We saw no smokes on either of the islands, neither did we see any plantations; and it is probable they are not very well peopled. We saw many shoals near Crown Island, and reefs of rocks running off from the points a mile or more into the sea. ”

“ Cornwall has been for many years a favorite resort of the Hudson Valley and her roofs shelter in the summer season many thousand people. The road completed in 1876, from Cornwall to West Point, gives one a pleasant acquaintance with the wooded Highlands. It passes over the plateau of Cro' Nest and winds down the Cornwall slope of Storm King. The tourist who sees Cro' Nest and Storm King only from the river, has but little idea of their extent. Cro' Nest plateau is about one thousand feet above the parade ground of West Point, and overlooks it as a rocky balcony. ”

“ Croydon is best reached by rail. It cannot be called a convenient centre, for one returns to centres, and Croydon has little that would recall a traveller. But it is an easy point of departure either for the country east, by Addington and the Kentish border, or south through Sanderstead to Coulsdon and Chaldon, or west by Beddington and the Carshalton trout ponds to Epsom. You may walk in any direction, except perhaps north, where you will walk into North Croydon. ”

“ It is astonishing how much foreground goes for in landscape; and there are few passes of scenery where it is more naturally beautiful than those of the Hudson. In the accompanying drawing, the picturesque neighbourhood of Undercliff, the seat of Colonel Morris, lies between the river and the artist, and directly opposite stands the peak of Crow Nest, mentioned in the description of West Point.
Crow Nest is one of the most beautiful mountains of America for shape, verdure, and position ”

“ Many a pilgrimage is made through the length of Cornwall for this sole purpose—to stand here at the dividing point of two channels, the meeting of two seas, the Titanic outermost gateway that confronts the fury or the rough sport of the ocean gods. The visitors come by car-loads from Penzance or from St. Ives; not only during the summer season but throughout the year—there are always some who wish to see Land's End. They often bring the vaguest ideas of what the sight will be; our visions of Land's End before we see it are often dim, immense, mystical. ”

“ Cromer has been fortunate not to have suffered so much as thought inevitable three hundred years ago, but the cliffs on either side have been eaten away, and have lately suffered, to such an extent, that the land it stands upon will soon be a promontory, in advance of the general coast-line, and must accordingly be more exposed. ”

“ Trees are very scarce, and the stone hedges, so characteristic of all the wild parts of West Cornwall, the patches of moorland, and the scattered cottages, make the whole appearance bare and exposed.
Porth Leah, or the King's Cove, now more usually known as Prussia Cove, [1] around [Pg viii] which so much of the interest of the narrative centres, lies a little to the eastward of Cuddan Point. There are really two coves divided from one another by a point and a small island called the "Enez." The western cove, generally called "Bessie's Cove," is a most sheltered and secluded place. ”

“ What a curious compound must be the man who is capable of such a strange, beautiful metaphor and yet remain a savage!
Fort-à-la-Corne lies some twenty miles below the point of junction of the rivers. Towards Fort-à-la-Corne I bent my steps with a strange anxiety, for at that point I was to intercept the "Winter Express" carrying from Red River its burden of news to the far-distant forts of the Mackenzie River. This winter packet had left Fort Garry in mid-December, and travelling by way of Lake Winnipeg, Norway House and Cumberland, was due at Fort-à-la-Corne about the 21st January. ”

“ The town of Crowland grew up round the abbey. By a charter dated 716, Æthelbald granted the isle of Crowland, free from all secular services, to the abbey with a gift of money, and leave to build and enclose the town. The privileges thus obtained were confirmed by numerous royal charters extending over a period of nearly 800 years. Under Abbot Ægelric the fens were tilled, the monastery grew rich, and the town increased in size, enormous tracts of land being held by the abbey at the Domesday Survey. ”

“ There are several fine and large islands in this river, one of which is nine miles long; its banks high, and the soil very good.
17th.—In the morning we arrived at the fort, which is a large stockade, inclosing about eighty houses, it stands close on the north side of the river, on a high bank, commands a very pleasant prospect for nine miles above, and nine miles below the fort; the country is thick settled with French, their plantations are generally laid out about three or four acres in breadth on the river, and eighty acres in depth; the soil is good, producing plenty of grain. ”

“ In these Franklin, nearly two years after he had landed in America, went on his voyage to the eastward to enter at last on the work he had been sent to do. But the survey of this lofty rocky coast was no easy matter; the sea was rough, the weather tempestuous, the canoes were lightly built and only suited for river work, and, in short, it was a most risky enterprise. Tracing the shore of Coronation Gulf and coasting up and out of Bathurst Inlet, Franklin reached Point Turnagain in 109° 25 ́ W., at the entrance of Dease Strait, on the 16th of August, 1821. ”

“ During the Revolutionary War, West Point was fortified to control the river, and a heavy chain was stretched across the river to Constitution Island to prevent British warships from ascending the river. ”

“ Houses in their own grounds are commoner than cottages, and near the summit the pegs of surveyors and the name-boards of avenues yet to be built testify to the charms which our Saxon Caledonia has already exerted.
But to say this is not to say all. Crowborough may be populous and over-built; but it is still a glorious eminence, the healthiest and most bracing inland village in the county, and [Pg 302] the key to its best moorland country. Since Crowborough's normal visitor either plays golf or is contented with a very modest radius, the more adventurous walker may quickly be in the solitudes. ”

“ Cape Cornwall is the next object of interest after Botallack. This point of land stretches out to the west, at an elevation of two hundred and thirty feet, and forms the northern boundary of Whitsand Bay (p. 88) . It is entirely composed of a slaty rock, traversed by numerous veins of Actinolite. To the geologist this spot will be interesting, since on the shore beneath, a junction may be observed between the Granite of the Land's End, and the slate of this promontory. ”

“ The scenery about West Point is of almost matchless grandeur, and every consideration is present to confirm the wisdom of the Congress of 1812 in establishing a military training-school at this point. The fort on the river-shore is in a position to command the approaches north and south, while at the foot of the highlands is a level stretch, as though prepared by nature for a Champ des Mars, or parade-ground. The hills rise abruptly from the rear of the training-plaza, and from their summits an inspiring view is to be had. ”

“ Within a radius of ten miles are clustered over forty lakes, and we very much doubt if one person in a thousand ever heard of them. A convenient map giving the physical geography of this section would be of great service to the mountain visitor. The Cornwall pier, built by the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad in 1892 for coal and freight purposes, will be seen on our left near the Cornwall dock. This railroad leaves the West Shore at this point and forms a pleasant tourist route to the beautiful inland villages and resorts of the State. ”

“ High mountains are all about, and to the eastward from Johnson City a narrow-gauge railway ascends through the romantic canyon of Doe River, in places fifteen hundred feet deep, up the Roan Mountain to Cranberry. This line is known in the neighborhood, on account of its crookedness, as the "Cranberry Stem-Winder." On the summit of Roan Mountain is the Cloudland Hotel, at an elevation of more than sixty-three hundred feet, the highest human habitation east of the Rockies, and having a magnificent view. ”