Early history In 1642,
Jesuit missionary
Isaac Jogues was tortured by
Iroquois at Coles Bay. He survived and was eventually saved by merchants from
New Amsterdam. The town was founded by William Gilliland in 1764 who surveyed an area in the southern part of the town and was granted ; he also established the neighboring towns of
Elizabethtown, named for his wife, and
Willsboro. Gilliland originally called his patent "Bessboro" after his little daughter. The original settlement, which may have supplied wood to
Benedict Arnold's troops, was completely destroyed during the
American Revolutionary War in connection with British General
John Burgoyne's march from
Canada to
Saratoga. The first permanent settlement was in 1785.
Incorporation The town of Westport was established in 1815 from part of the town of
Elizabethtown. The community of Westport in the center of town incorporated as a
village in 1907. The community abandoned its status as an incorporated village on December 31, 1992.
Westport the resort By the mid-nineteenth century, Westport was a fashionable
resort town. Its social scene was regularly reported on in
The New York Times and by the
Boston press. Like many other
East Coast resorts, its popularity gradually declined, starting in the 1930s, as first automobiles and then airplanes made possible a wider selection of vacation sites. Since the 1950s, however, Westport's lakeshore property has steadily increased in value. Although once most of the "summer people" stayed for weeks, now distinctions are not as clear: there are "year-round summer people" whose livelihood stems from outside Westport, weekenders whose principal residence is fairly close by (for example,
Albany, which is two hours distant by car), and commuters to workplaces as distant as Plattsburgh, New York, or
Middlebury, Vermont. Westport is home to
Camp Dudley, the oldest
summer camp in continuous operation in the United States, founded in 1885 by Sumner F. Dudley, who moved to Westport in 1891.
Meadowmount, the summer school for string players founded by
Ivan Galamian, is northwest of the center of town, in the town of
Lewis. In 2024,
Taylor Haskins opened The Mill, 11,000 square feet of exhibition and performance space in a renovated grain mill featuring world class contemporary artists, musicians and comedians. Westport is known as the ice fishing capital of Essex County. Westport is home to one of the only two professional theatres in the Adirondacks proper, the second being
Pendragon Theatre in
Saranac Lake. The Depot Theatre was founded in 1979 and operates out of the historic
Amtrak railway station. The 136-seat, air-conditioned theatre hosts plays and musicals on its main stage during the summer months, as well as an annual gala. The
Camp Dudley Road Historic District,
Champlain II Shipwreck,
Essex County Fairgrounds,
First Congregational and Presbyterian Society Church of Westport,
Lake View Grange No. 970, and
Vergennes canal boat are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. ==Geography==