Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House
National Register of Historic Places

Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House

Vergennes, Addison County, Vermont
Listed
July 10, 2001
Type
Building
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
01000733

About this property

The Capts. Louis and Philomene Daniels House is a historic house at 50 Macdonough Drive in Vergennes, Vermont. Built in 1868, this vernacular waterfront house was home to Philomene Daniels, believed to be the first woman to be given a steamship captain's license. She, her husband Louis, and their two sons operated the Daniels Boat Line, providing freight and passenger service between Vergennes and Westport, New York. Their house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The Daniels House stands northwest of downtown Vergennes, on the north side of Macdonough Drive opposite Macdonough Park and the Vergennes city dock. The house is a modest vernacular 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure. It is L-shaped, with a front-facing gabled main block, an ell extending to the west, and a shed-roof section extending across the rear. A shed-roof porch extends across the front, and there are entrances in both the front of the ell and the side of the main block. The interior retains original flooring and trim elements. Philomene Daniels was a native of Quebec whose family moved to Vergennes in the 1850s. In 1862 she married Louis Daniels, a native of Panton who was also of French-Canadian extraction. In 1869 he began working aboard the Water Lily, a small steamboat which he purchased in 1880. By 1877 he had acquired both pilot and engineering licenses for operating the ship, which carried freight and passengers down Otter Creek to Lake Champlain and across to Westport, New York. The couple's two sons began assisting their father in the operation of the service, and Philomene also joined the family business. Seeking to become "as good a pilot as any man", she secured a pilot's license in 1887, a feat which garnered international headlines. The family eventually acquired or built three more steamships, which plied the lake until 1916, when other forms of transport rendered it unprofitable. National Register of Historic Places listings in Addison County, Vermont

Location

50 Macdonough Dr.
Vergennes, Addison County, Vermont
44.16996, -73.25943

Categories

MARITIME HISTORYTRANSPORTATIONENTERTAINMENT/RECREATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Vergennes Historic District
Listed
0.4 mi
Strong, Gen. Samuel, House
Early Republic
0.4 mi
Vergennes Residential Historic District
Modern
0.5 mi
Strong, Samuel Paddock, House
Industrial
0.6 mi
Vergennes Station House
Industrial
0.9 mi

Nearby Battles

Rogers' Ambush at Lake Champlain 1758
1758Colonial
7.1 mi
Rogers' Rangers – Battle on Snowshoes March 13 1758
1758Colonial
10.7 mi

Questions about this property

When was Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House listed on the National Register?

Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 2001.

What type of historic resource is Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House?

Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House?

The period of significance for Daniels, Capts. Louis and Philomene, House is recorded as the civil_war era, specifically around 1868.

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