Upper St. Regis Lake is a part of the

St. Regis River The St. Regis River (or rivière Saint-Régis in Quebec) is an river in northern New York in the United States. It flows into the Saint Lawrence River at the hamlet of Saint Regis in the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. The Saint Regis River ...

in the Adirondacks in northern

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. Along with

Lower St. Regis Lake Lower St. Regis Lake is a part of the St. Regis River in the Adirondacks in northern New York State. At its northern edge is Paul Smith's College, former site of Paul Smith's Hotel. Along with Upper St. Regis Lake and Spitfire Lake, it became ...

and Spitfire Lake, it became famous in the late 19th century as a summer playground of America's

power elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

, drawn to the area by its scenic beauty and by the rustic charms of Paul Smith's Hotel. It is the site of many grand old summer "cottages" and

Great Camps __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 camp ...

, including Marjorie Merriweather Post's Topridge.

Frederick W. Vanderbilt Frederick William Vanderbilt (February 2, 1856 – June 29, 1938) was a member of the American Vanderbilt family. He was a director of the New York Central Railroad for 61 years, and also a director of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad and o ...

, Anson Phelps Stokes and Whitelaw Reid were among the summer residents. "The camps of many of these families began as tent colonies, with separate units for sleeping, dining, games, and so on, and evolved into permanent structures built with understated taste." Apollos "Paul" Smith started his hotel in 1859 as a primitive operation that appealed to sportsmen. Gradually, the hotel became something of a fad amongst the wealthy and powerful of New York. As camping became more of a family activity, Smith would allow families to set up camp for day use along the shores of the St. Regis Lakes, returning to the hotel for the night. Eventually, families would lease or buy land from Smith and build tent platforms, and finally clusters of cabins and cottages. Even in the early stages, some of these camps became quite elaborate. In 1883, one of the first families, the Stokes, would arrive in a "special parlour horse car direct from 42nd street to Ausable for $100." The party consisted of ten family members and an equal number of servants, "three horses, two dogs, one carriage, five large boxes of tents, three cases of wine, two packages of stovepipe, two stoves, one bale of china, one iron pot, four washstands, one barrel of hardware, four bundles of poles, seventeen cots and seventeen mattresses, four canvas packages, one buckboard, .. twenty-five trunks, thirteen small boxes, one boat, one hamper", all of which was then transferred to wagons for the ride to Paul Smiths, and thence by boat to their island campsite.Hooker, p. 2-3 Upper Saint Regis Lake is part of the original

Seven Carries The Seven Carries is an historic canoe route from Paul Smith's Hotel to the Saranac Inn through what is now known as the Saint Regis Canoe Area in southern Franklin County, New York in the Adirondack Park. The route was famous with sportsmen an ...

canoe route from Paul Smith's Hotel to

Saranac Inn The Saranac Inn was a large, luxurious hotel located on a peninsula at the northern end of the Upper Saranac Lake in the town of Santa Clara in the Adirondacks in New York State, United States. It was frequented by US Presidents Grover Cleveland ...

. It is also the original home of the ''Idem''-class racing sailboats, originally built in 1900, the oldest class of actively racing one-design boats with original boats participating. The lake is located in the towns of Harrietstown and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, both in Franklin County, New York. Image:Camp Katja.jpg, Camp Katia Image:Boathouse at Katja.jpg, The boathouse at Camp Katia. Image:Boathouse 2 at Topridge.jpg, Another boathouse at Topridge. Image:Adirondack Guideboat.jpg, An

Adirondack guideboat The Adirondack Guideboat is a rowboat that was developed in the 1840s for recreational activities in Adirondack Park. It was designed to have a shallow draft, carry three people and their gear, and be light enough to be portaged by one man, the gu ...

. Image:Billiard Room, Camp Wild Air, Upper St Regis Lake, NY.JPG, Billiard Room, Camp Wild Air Image:Image-Bishops Palace, Camp Wild Air, Upper St Regis Lake.JPG, Bishops Palace, Camp Wild Air

Notes

Sources

*Donaldson, Alfred L., ''A History of the Adirondacks.'' New York: Century, 1921. . (reprint) *Jerome, Christine, ''Adirondack Passage: Cruise of Canoe Sairy Gamp'', HarperCollins, 1994. . *Hooker, Mildred Phelps Stokes, ''Camp Chronicles'', Blue Mountain Lake, NY: Adirondack Museum, 1964. .

External links

''New York Times'', "Yacht Racing on St. Regis Lake", August 7, 1904. (pdf)''New York Times'', "Guests at Adirondack Camps",August 9, 1903. (PDF)''New York Times'', "DOINGS IN THE ADIRONDACKS; Prominent Women Devoting Much of their time to Charity Work", July 23, 1905
{{authority control Adirondack Park Lakes of New York (state) Lakes of Franklin County, New York Tourist attractions in Franklin County, New York Paul Smiths, New York