The Bay View Grounds & Gardens

The northern corner of Sembrich point sloped gently into the lake, offering students and visitors an ideal place to swim on warm summer days.

Fun Fact: If you look closely you can see Madame Sembrich at the base of the stone wall looking at the group through her opera glasses. While study was serious, Madame Sembrich knew the value of outdoor recreation.

Located just to the south of the lookout terrace was a large statue of a deer. This statue was here before Sembrich obtained the property. It appears in several photos by Lake Placid photographer G.T. Rabineau, who photographed Bay View in 1922 and in a few other images that predate Rabineau's photos.

Fun Fact: The terrace that was built on The Sembrich's grounds after 1935 is located on the shoreline seen in the extreme right of the photo, just beyond the trees.

Looking across back at the shore from the brick terrace in the previous photos, one could get picturesque views of Bay View and Bolton Bay.

The boathouse was wired for electricity and featured a pier-style dock with an electric lamp post and a station-style bench.

Madame Sembrich would often arrive in Lake George via train. A rail station was located in the village at Lake George's southern shore. From there, Sembrich would travel by car or by boat to Bay View. In a recollection from Theresa Falcon, the trip to Bay View by boat would take about an hour. Falcon, the goddaughter of Sembrich's cook, summered at Bay View with her godmother Therese Kinnesberger.

Pictured here is Madame Sembrich (right), daughter-in-law Juliette de Coppet Stengel (center), and granddaughter Anita de Coppet (left) on the dock at Bay View.

Here, we see Juliette de Coppet Stengel (right) taking Therese Kinnesberger (center), and Anita de Coppet (left) for a boat ride in Bolton Bay. While Sembrich occupied much of her time with teaching, Bay View was also a place for recreation and to enjoy the natural beauty of the Adirondack Mountains and Lake George.

Fun Fact: Madame Sembrich can be seen on the shore waving.

Madame Sembrich encouraged her students to enjoy the outdoors. In their free time, the students at Bay View took full advantage of all Lake George and Bolton Landing had to offer. Students would often boat to lunch at Paradise Bay or the nearby Lake George Club.

Just around the bend from the boathouse, we come to a split in the path, the left leads to Bay View (check out our exhibit "A Tour of Bay View" to learn more about the house and see the immaculate interior.)

For this tour, we'll take the shoreline path on the right, continuing our walk along the bay.

This postcard from the time of William Demuth, one of Bay View's previous owners, shows the view of Bolton Bay (ca. 1900). The terrace, where we began our tour, once featured a pagoda-style gazebo top. We can also see the deer statue standing to the right of the gazebo.

The gazebo top was removed from the property sometime between 1900 and 1920. The structure was purchased and moved across the frozen lake to a property located to the south on Homer Point.

Here we can see the same view from Bay View's front lawn, including Sembrich's new boathouse and pier. Today, the entirety of Bolton Bay is lined with new homes and cottages.

Minna Saumelle, (seated in a chair) taught diction at both the Curtis Institute and Juilliard Graduate School. The students in this photo are from the Curtis Institute.

The structure was relocated from the extreme northern edge of the estate to the extreme southern edge of Sembrich Point between 1935 and 1937. It was used as a bath house by the de Coppet family until the early 1960s. The structure still stands, serving as a display room and practice space for performers.

The instructor, Mme. Tavernier (pictured seated to the right), taught French language to Sembrich's students. It is not clear if she was employed by Juilliard or Curtis, or was simply a personal friend of Sembrich.

Sembrich enjoyed gardening and spending time outdoors. Bay View offered ample space for gardens which Sembrich tended in the morning following breakfast and before beginning her daily teaching activities.

Madame Sembrich's gardens were one of many put on display each year in the Lake George Garden Club's Annual Flower Show and Market. There are no reports of Sembrich's gardens winning prizes, but in all the articles from 1923-1934, Madame Sembrich is always first in the list of gardens on display in Bolton.

A portion of the north lawn also featured an orchard containing several apple trees. These apples, along with other vegetables grown on the property were preserved and brought back to New York City in the winters. This was overseen by cook Therese Kinnesberger, who traveled with Madame Sembrich between the city and Bolton Landing.

The path leading to the formal gardens from the north wall of Bay View was lined with hydrangeas. The northern face of the house can be seen in the upper left of this photo.

Though the mature age of the hydrangea bushes implies that they were planted well before Sembrich's purchase of the property, they have become an iconic symbol of The Sembrich. Today, the small bay near The Sembrich Studio is still lined with dozens of hydrangea bushes that continue to bloom.

Continuing on, past the garage, we find another gazebo and a gatehouse beside the main entrance to the estate. This entrance is now the main entrance to Carey's Lakeside Cottages.

The gatehouse was used as a practice studio. The cottage was similar in construction to The Sembrich studio, including a similar vaulted ceiling.

Among the many collaborative pianists from Curtis to study at Sembrich's musical colony, Sylvan Levin, a Curtis Institute piano and conducting student (seated third from left) went on to be the Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Levin also founded the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company in 1938 and served as its director for six years. He joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute later in his life, teaching voice and piano.

Levin spent the summers of 1928-1930 at Bay View coaching students. While he was not a singer himself, he learned much from Sembrich regarding vocal accompanying and coaching. During his summers at Bay View this cottage served as his personal studio.

Hilltop Cottage, like a majority of the other buildings on the estate, was built by Schermerhorn Construction Co. Along with the house, a new greenhouse was constructed and still stands behind Hilltop Cottage.

Continuing our tour down the drive from the main entrance, we come to the back side of Bay View. The drive encircled a lawn bordered with Norwegian spruce. The spruce were planted when the house was built in the 1850s and still stand today.

The porch seen to the far left of this photo led visitors back to the north lawn gardens and orchard.

For now, we'll move on to the south lawn.

(Don't forget to check out the tour of the inside of the house later!)

Situated between the tennis court, Bay View, and Lake George to the east and south, a small lawn with trees and shrubs served as a tea garden. Sembrich hosted several tea parties here, photographed by Thatcher. Later, a brick house, part of a development named Victorian Village, would occupy the majority of this portion of the lawn.

Another View Across the Road: Just south of the tennis court was a driveaway across the road that lead to Juliette de Coppet Stengle's home Pine Hill. This home was constructed in 1923 by Schermerhorn Construction Company, also featuring pink stucco siding matching the other buildings on the estate. Now, we'll head back to Bay View's south lawn.

Moving across the edge of the southern lawn, we arrive back on the northern shore of the Sembrich point peninsula. Before we conclude our tour, we still have to explore the southern shore of the peninsula...

The southern shore of Sembrich Point (approximately 4.5 acres), is now the location of The Sembrich which operates as a memorial to Marcella Sembrich. This same path still offers visitors the same views of Huddle Bay that inspired Sembrich and her students.

This photo, located on a knoll next to the path in the previous photo, shows the amount of open space the property once had. Today, much of the open space has grown in with trees and natural vegetation.

Just behind the group, you can see Sweetbriar Island. This island, though not officially part of the estate, was easily accessed from the Bay View property. Sembrich's granddaughter Anita de Coppet held her 14th birthday on the small island. Today, the island is publicly owned and available for exploring and camping.

Here, we see Sembrich, Anita, and their dog Rover. Sembrich enjoyed exploring the wooded areas around the estate. A large portion of the western side of the estate was pasture, but a portion was still forest land.

This photo, taken in the vegetable garden to the north of Hilltop Cottage, shows the main entrance to Bay View between two pillars topped with globe lights.

Sembrich was no stranger to domestic life, having grown up in poverty in the rural countryside of Poland. Many of Rabineau's photos picture Sembrich with her granddaughter Anita de Coppet as they complete chores on the farm.

This vegetable plot is located just north of Hilltop Cottage. The barns, which still stand can be seen in the far left of the photo. Each morning Sembrich (center) would go over the menu for the day with her cook Therese (right). What was not grown at the estate, Therese would order from a store in the village of Bolton Landing. Dusolina Giannini (left) was one of the first students to come to Bay View with Sembrich.

Scroll to the next slide to see what it looks like today.

Additional gardens were located to the rear and to the south of Hilltop Cottage. Sembrich is seen here in one of the gardens near the greenhouse behind the cottage.

This photo, taken before Hilltop Cottage was constructed, shows the gardens and structures behind the original caretaker cottage.

The greenhouse (center) and the original caretaker cottage (partial, far right) were replaced in 1925.

This photo is taken from the back of the original caretaker cottage and shows the barns and buildings of Bay View's farm.

This photo, taken at the main barn, shows the fields that extended past the rear of the barn to the wooded edge of the property.

This concludes our special addition to our tour of Bay View. We have now explored the entirety of the Bay View estate as it was nearly a century ago! We hope you have enjoyed this special tour of the Bay View grounds and gardens. To explore more about Sembrich's time at Bay View or to tour Bay View and The Sembrich Studio, check out our other exhibits in The Thatcher Photos series!