Lower Saranac Lake
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Lower Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the
Saranac River Saranac River ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is an river in the U.S. state of New York. In its upper reaches is a region of mostly flat water and lakes. The river has more than three dozen source lakes and ponds north of Upper Saranac Lake; the highes ...
, near the village of Saranac Lake in the
Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
in northern
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 * '' ...
. With
Middle Saranac Lake Middle Saranac Lake, also called Round Lake, is the smallest of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Two-thirds of its shoreline is state-owned. The lake is lo ...
and
Upper Saranac Lake Upper Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, in the towns of Santa Clara and Harrietstown, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Upper Saranac Lake is the sixth largest lak ...
, a paddle with only one
portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...
is possible. The Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground provides 87 campsites on inlands in Lower and
Middle Saranac Lake Middle Saranac Lake, also called Round Lake, is the smallest of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Two-thirds of its shoreline is state-owned. The lake is lo ...
. In addition to the Saranac River, it is fed by nearby Lake Colby, Fish Creek, and Lilly Pad Pond. Lower Saranac Lake is located in the town of
Harrietstown, New York Harrietstown is a town in Franklin County, New York, United States. The total population was 5,254 at the 2020 census, In 2010 3,879 of the town's residents lived in the village of Saranac Lake on the eastern side of the town. Harrietstown is in ...
. The lake, along with both Upper and Middle Saranac Lakes, is also part of the 740-mile
Northern Forest Canoe Trail The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is a marked canoeing trail in the northeastern United States and Canada, extending from Old Forge in the Adirondacks of New York to Fort Kent, Maine. Along the way, the trail also passes through the states ...
, which begins in
Old Forge, NY Old Forge is a hamlet (and census-designated place) on New York State Route 28 in the town of Webb in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 756 at the 2010 census. Old Forge was formerly a village but dissolved its incorp ...
and ends in
Fort Kent, ME Fort Kent is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States, situated at the confluence of the Fish River and the Saint John River, on the border with New Brunswick, Canada. The population was 4,067 in the 2020 census. Fort Kent is home to ...
.


History

Prior to the development of
railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
and the
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
, the Saranac Lakes formed part of an important transportation route in the Adirondacks; one could travel across, from Old Forge to
Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...
, almost entirely on water. In 1849, William F. Martin built one of the first hotels in the Adirondacks— the "Saranac Lake House", known simply as "Martin's"— on the northeast shore of Lower Saranac Lake. Martin's, with room for 80 guests, became a favorite place for hunters, woodsmen, and socialites to meet and interact; a young Theodore Roosevelt was among the guests, and the members of the famous "Philosopher's Camp" on Follensby Pond (including poets
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
and
James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ri ...
and scientist
Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...
) found their guides at Martins. The publication of William H. H. Murray's ''Adventures in the Wilderness; Or Camp-Life in the Adirondacks'' in 1869, containing a favorable review of Martin's, started a flood of tourists to the area, leading to a rash of hotel building and the development of
stage coach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
lines. In 1892, Dr.
William Seward Webb William Seward Webb (January 31, 1851 – October 29, 1926) was a businessman, and inspector general of the Vermont militia with the rank of colonel. He was a founder and former president of the Sons of the American Revolution. Early life Webb w ...
's
Mohawk and Malone Railway The Mohawk and Malone Railway was a railroad that ran from the New York Central Railroad's main line at Herkimer north to Malone, crossing the northern Adirondacks at Tupper Lake Junction, just north of Tupper Lake. The road's founder, Dr. Willi ...
reached the village of Saranac Lake; it dramatically reduced travel time from major east coast cities to the Adirondacks, and had a major impact on the hotel and the area. In 1870, the hotel's capacity was doubled. In 1880, Martin lost the hotel through foreclosure. The new owner promptly remodeled and increased capacity to 250 guests. In 1888, it underwent its final renovations, but in 1894, it burned to the ground. In 1884, a new hotel was built half a mile southeast of Martins. Known originally as Alexander's or the Alexander House, with a capacity for one hundred guests, in 1890, it changed hands and was renamed The Algonquin. It quickly established a reputation for luxury, modern technology, and fine cuisine, and the capacity was soon raised to 150. In 1914, the hotel was leased to a firm that tried using it as a
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
sanatorium, an innovation that failed the first year. Although it resumed operation as a hotel, it never did well again, changing hands several times, ultimately becoming the property of
Edmond Guggenheim Edmond Alfred Guggenheim (January 19, 1888 – March 16, 1972) was an American copper industry businessman and philanthropist. He was a member of the Guggenheim family. Biography Guggenheim was born on January 19, 1888, in Switzerland to Murry ...
, who owned property nearby; he donated it to the
Trudeau Institute The Trudeau Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, biomedical research center located on a campus in Saranac Lake, New York. Its scientific mission is to make breakthrough discoveries that lead to improved human health. Trudeau scientists ...
, which replaced the structure with their present building in the late 1950s. In 1888, a third hotel was built at the northern end of the lake, this on the western shore of Ampersand bay, the Hotel Ampersand. Originally conceived as a year-round health resort, banking on Saranac Lake's reputation for the treatment of tuberculosis, instead it found its best clientele to be healthy summer vacationers. The largest and most fashionable of the three hotels, it was dubbed the Saratoga of Lower Saranac Lake. It was saved from the slow decline of its neighbors by a spectacular fire in 1907. It was never rebuilt. As the state owned much of the shoreline of Lower Saranac Lake, there is much less development there than on Upper Saranac Lake. One notable property is the
Knollwood Club Knollwood Club is an Adirondack Great Camp on Shingle Bay, Lower Saranac Lake, near the village of Saranac Lake, New York, USA. It was built in 1899–1900 by William L. Coulter, who had previously created a major addition to Alfred G. Vanderb ...
, built in 1899-1900 by local architect
William L. Coulter William Lincoln Coulter (1865–1907) was an American architect who came to Saranac Lake, New York, in the spring of 1896 in an effort to cure his tuberculosis, and stayed to design some of the finest Adirondack Great Camps and Cure Cottages ...
for six friends, including
Louis Marshall Louis Marshall (December 14, 1856 – September 11, 1929) was an American corporate, constitutional and civil rights lawyer as well as a mediator and Jewish community leader who worked to secure religious, political, and cultural freedom for a ...
and
Daniel Guggenheim Daniel Guggenheim (July 9, 1856 – September 28, 1930) was an American mining magnate and philanthropist, and a son of Meyer and Barbara Guggenheim. By 1910 he directed the world's most important group of mining interests. He was forced out ...
. Louis Marshall's sons wilderness activist Bob Marshall and conservationist
George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...
spent the summers of their youth there, and
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
was a frequent summer visitor; he was at Knollwood on August 6, 1945 when he heard on the radio that the atom bomb had been dropped on
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
. Einstein enjoyed sailing on the lake, and on occasion needed to be rescued by local residents after capsizing.Taylor, Robert, ''America's Magic Mountain'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. Image:Lower Saranac Lake - Bald Eagle - Boat.jpg,
Bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
, Ampersand Bay Image:Lower Saranac Lake - Shingle Bay.jpg, Shingle Bay Image:Knollwood Club on Lower Saranac Lake.jpg,
Knollwood Club Knollwood Club is an Adirondack Great Camp on Shingle Bay, Lower Saranac Lake, near the village of Saranac Lake, New York, USA. It was built in 1899–1900 by William L. Coulter, who had previously created a major addition to Alfred G. Vanderb ...
Great Camp __NOTOC__ The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The ca ...
Image:Mink - Lower Saranac Lake.jpg, A
mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
, near Fish Creek Image:Saranac Lake House - SR Stoddard.jpg, Saranac Lake House, 1890 ( Stoddard) Image:Hotel Ampersand - Stoddard.jpg, Hotel Ampersand, 1890 (Stoddard) Image:Lower Saranac Lake - the Algonquin.jpg, The Algonquin (c. 1900 - 1910) Image:The Ampersand Hotel - Jackson.jpg, Hotel Ampersand, WH Jackson, 1902


See also

*
Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
*
Middle Saranac Lake Middle Saranac Lake, also called Round Lake, is the smallest of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Two-thirds of its shoreline is state-owned. The lake is lo ...
*
Northern Forest Canoe Trail The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is a marked canoeing trail in the northeastern United States and Canada, extending from Old Forge in the Adirondacks of New York to Fort Kent, Maine. Along the way, the trail also passes through the states ...
*
Upper Saranac Lake Upper Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, in the towns of Santa Clara and Harrietstown, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Upper Saranac Lake is the sixth largest lak ...


References


Sources

* Jamieson, Paul and Morris, Donald, ''Adirondack Canoe Waters, North Flow'', Lake George, NY: Adirondack Mountain Club, 1987. . * Tolles, Bryant F., Jr., ''Resort Hotels of the Adirondacks'', Lebanon NH: University Press of New England, 2003. .


External links


New York State DEC - Camping Information

''New York Times'', "Indians' Star lake.; Lower Saranac Keeps Up its Traditions.", June 17, 1906.
{{authority control Adirondack Great Camps Adirondacks Lakes of New York (state) Protected areas of Franklin County, New York Lakes of Franklin County, New York Northern Forest Canoe Trail Saranac Lake, New York