Lake George is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. The population was 3,578 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the lake, Lake George. The town surrounds the Village of Lake George. The town is part of the

Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area The Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in Upstate New York, anchored by the city of Glens Falls. It is considered to be a part of the greater Capital D ...

History

The first European to visit the lake was Father

Isaac Jogues Isaac Jogues, S.J. (10 January 1607 – 18 October 1646) was a French missionary and martyr who traveled and worked among the Iroquois, Huron, and other Native populations in North America. He was the first European to name Lake George, call ...

in August 1642. He was later captured by

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

s, escaped, and returned home to France. In 1646, he was sent on a political mission to the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

to propose a treaty of peace, and at that point named the lake "Lac du Saint Sacrement" (Lake of the Blessed Sacrament). In 1755, the lake was renamed "Lake George" by General William Johnson in honor of King George II. Lake George was also the site of

Fort William Henry Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for ...

, named in honor of

Prince William Henry Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (25 November 1743 – 25 August 1805), was a grandson of King George II and a younger brother of George III of the United Kingdom. Life Youth Prince William Henry was born at Leicester ...

, grandson of King George II, by General Johnson. The fort, its surrender to the

Marquis de Montcalm Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Veran (28 February 1712 – 14 September 1759) was a French soldier best known as the commander of the forces in North America during the Seven Years' War (whose North American th ...

after a six-day siege by the French and Indians, and the following massacre all in 1757 were used by

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

as the background for his famous novel ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...

''. The fort was reconstructed and opened to the public as a museum in 1953. The town was established in 1810 as the "Town of Caldwell" from parts of the towns of

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, Queensbury, and Thurman.''History of Warren County'' (1885)
edited by H. P. Smith, "Chapter XXXII: History of the Town of Caldwell". ''rootsweb.com''. Accessed 17 July 2015. In 1962 the town changed its name to Lake George. The town is also home to Wiawaka, a historic retreat center that was founded in 1903 for female textile workers from Troy but operates as a nonprofit for everyone today. The FORWARD shipwreck site (motor launch), Royal C. Peabody Estate, Wiawaka Bateaux Site, and

Wiawaka Holiday House Wiawaka is a holiday house for women. It has lake front property on Lake George, New York. It is one of the few remaining fully operational vacation/retreat centers which arose out of the women's rights movement in the early part of the twentieth ...

are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The Land Tortoise (radeau) Shipwreck Site and Owl's Nest are

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

s. The

Lake George Battlefield Park Historic District Lake George Battlefield Park Historic District is a national historic district relating to the French and Indian War Battle of Lake George and located near Lake George in Warren County, New York. The parkland was purchased and developed by New ...

was listed in 2011.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the town has a total area of 32.7 square miles (84.7 km²), of which 30.2 square miles (78.3 km²) is land and 2.5 square miles (6.3 km²) (7.49%) is water. According to the Lake George Association, Lake George is 32 miles in length and a maximum of two miles in width. The

Adirondack Northway Interstate 87 (I-87) is a north–south Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of New York. It is most of the main highway between New York City and Montreal. The highway begins at exit 47 off I-278 in the New York ...

passes through the town.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 3,578 people, 1,533 households, and 1,002 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 118.3 people per square mile (45.7/km²). There were 2,456 housing units at an average density of 81.2 per square mile (31.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.74%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 0.53%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.25% Native American, 0.59%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 0.17% from other races, and 0.70% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 0.92% of the population. There were 1,533 households, out of which 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.84. In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.7% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 30.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $42,125, and the median income for a family was $48,789. Males had a median income of $31,134 versus $22,375 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $22,311. About 3.6% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

* Big Hollow – A

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

northwest of Lake George village. * Bloody Pond – A

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

in the southern part of town that received its name from the

Battle of Lake George The Battle of Lake George was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York. It was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America, in the French and Indian War. On one side were 1,584 French, Can ...

. * Crosbyside – A hamlet east of Lake George village. * Diamond Point – A hamlet north of Lake George village on the western shore of Lake George. This hamlet has ZIP code 12824. *

– The reconstructed historic fort is in Lake George village, originally built by the British during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. * Lake George – A village located at the southern end of Lake George. * Prospect Mountain – A mountain near Big Hollow.

References

External links

*
Lake George Historical Association

Lake George Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Glens Falls metropolitan area Adirondacks Towns in Warren County, New York Populated places established in 1810 1810 establishments in New York (state)