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 A small cottage was built upon the adjacent point in 1880 by Ovette Stone of Ferrisburgh, one of the original members of the Thompson's Point Club organized in 1870. He sold it in the spring of 1894 to Professor Charles E. Colby of New York, NY, who had rented it the previous two summers and had boarded in the summer of 1891 at the Field's farm, later Emerson's and the Bucklin's. He improved the cottage with the help of the famous Joe Stone of North Ferrisburgh.
Following his death in 1897, the cottage, known as "Bonnie View", continued to be occupied by Professor Colby's widow, Emily, and her daughters Dorothea ("Bunny") Massacar and Sabra Colby Tice with her husband, Walter. Their brother, Colonel Elbridge Colby, his wife Margaret and son William, were frequent summer visitors between military tours.
Elbridge Colby, who balanced academic and journalistic pursuits with his military career, may have been best known to his Point neighbors for leading the successful battle against federal bureaucrats to retain the apostrophe in Thompson's Point. Younger Pointers will remember his annual patriotic talks at the Big Dock following July 4th parades.
At the death of "Bunny" Massacar in 1959 the cottage passed to her nephew William Colby, a decorated OSS operative in World War II who rose through the ranks to eventually become director of the CIA. Bill, his wife Barbara and their children - Jonathan, Catherine (d. 1973), Carl, Paul, and Charlotte - enjoyed it for many summers. Now with the passing of the cottage to the four adult children and their families, Bonnie View sees its fifth generation sharing Champlain summers.
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