Chimney Point Beach sits at the narrowest crossing of Lake Champlain, where the span shrinks to mere hundreds of feet and ferries chug between Vermont and New York every fifteen minutes. The namesake chimney, a blackened stack of mortared fieldstone, marks the site of a colonial-era inn that once served travelers waiting to ford the lake. Today, the beach itself is a humble crescent of grass and smooth pebbles, bordered by wild beach pea and silky dogwood that bloom pale purple in June.
“The only Lake Champlain beach where you can swim in the shadow of a Revolutionary War ruin while watching the Adirondacks rise a stone's throw across the water.”
Credit: FlickrC13a Chimney Rock area, Point Reyes National Seashore
You wade in over a gradual cobble shelf that massages your feet, the water cool even in August, tinted jade-green from algae blooms but clear enough to watch minnows dart between rocks. Across the narrow strait, the Adirondack high peaks stack up in blue ridges, their profiles sharpening as afternoon light rakes across the summits. Sailboats tack past, their hulls creaking audibly in the quiet.
The adjacent Crown Point State Historic Site shares the same peninsula, so you can walk from swim to museum in five minutes, tracing the footprint of French and British forts while your towel dries on the grass. Local families arrive after chores with folding chairs and thermoses of lemonade, settling in for the slow transition from day to dusk, when the lake turns pewter and the first bats swoop low over the shallows.
