Westport

Westport is a small town of 1,350 people in Essex County in New York's Adirondacks region.

Understand

Adirondack chair

Tiny Westport is cottage country and the birthplace of the Adirondack chair, originally a "Westport plank chair" designed by Thomas Lee in 1903 and patented by carpenter Harry Bunnell in 1905.

The original chair is simple in design. One plank of hemlock, pine or cedar is cut into eleven pieces and assembled as a distinctive wooden outdoor chair which tilts slightly back. Popular among cottagers, the patents for the chairs have long expired and woodworkers in many faraway places (including a few Amish communities) have readily adopted the basic designs.

While there have been endless knockoffs, ranging from Ontario's "Muskoka furniture" of similar construction to the mass-market composite, resin or recycled plastic imitations of the wooden original which turn up at hardware and lumber dealers nationwide, some of the original wooden chairs are still made in the Adirondacks region and shipped far and wide.

Get in

Westport is accessible by car or boat, as it is located on Lake Champlain.

By train

See also: Rail travel in the United States

• 1 Westport station, 6705 Main Street. A historic station built as a depot in 1876 by Delaware and Hudson Railway. The station houses a community centre and the Depot Theatre. (updated Oct 2023) Train operator:
  • Amtrak, ☏ +1 215-856-7924, toll-free: +1-800-872-7245. Operates trains throughout the United States of America. (updated Dec 2020) Route stopping at Westport:
    • Adirondack operating daily between Montreal and New York City including stops along the way in Saint-Lambert, Rouses Point, Plattsburgh, Westport, Ticonderoga, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Albany (Rensselaer), Hudson, Rhinecliff, Poughkeepsie, Croton-on-Hudson, and Yonkers.

By bus

• A connecting Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach bus stops in Westport runs to/from Lake Placid.

Do

Essex County fairgrounds, Westport

• 1 Depot Theatre, Highway 9N and Ledge Hill Road, ☏ +1 518 962-4449. Live theatre at Westport's 1876 Delaware and Hudson rail station. (Amtrak's Adirondack still stops here.) 

Eat

• Le Bistro-Du-Lac, 44 Old Arsenal Road, ☏ +1 518 962-8777. 
• Merrick's Bread & Coffee, 2576 County Route 10 (corner of Rt 22), ☏ +1 518 962-2280. 
• Westport Marina, 20 Washington St., ☏ +1 518 962-4899. 
• Westport Hotel Restaurant, 6691 Main St., ☏ +1 518 962-4501. 

Sleep

• The Inn in Westport NY, 1234 Stevenson Rd, ☏ +1 518 335-1966, innmail@hotmail.com. Check-in: 3pm, check-out: 11am. Twelve-room inn overlooking Lake Champlain in the Adirondacks. $120 - $180. (updated Oct 2018)

Go next

Routes through Westport

Montreal ← Plattsburgh ←	N  S	→ Ticonderoga → Albany (Rensselaer)
Montreal ← Plattsburgh ←	N  S	→ Chester → Albany
Plattsburgh ← Elizabethtown ←	N  S	→ Crown Point → Saratoga Springs
Plattsburgh ← Essex ←	N  S	→ Crown Point → Jct W E