Indian Lake is a
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in
Hamilton County,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, United States. The population was 1,352 at the 2010 census.
The name is from a
lake of the same name that is largely inside the town. There are no permanent stop lights in the town.
The town is on the eastern border of the county and is northeast of
Utica.
Indian Lake terms itself the "
Moose
The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...
capital of the Northeast". Their welcoming sign on Route 28 even features this critter, and several other examples of this claim can be found throughout the town itself.
History
The town of Indian Lake was established in 1858 from the towns of Gilman (now defunct),
Long Lake, and
Wells. In 1861, Indian Lake was expanded using territory from the towns of Gilman and
Lake Pleasant.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which of the town are land, and , or 5.42%, are water.
The town lies within the
Adirondack Park
The Adirondack Park is a park in northeastern New York (state), New York protecting the Adirondack Mountains. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. At , ...
.
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
and
Warren counties border the town to its east. In the village center, the east–west
State Route 28 meets the north–south
Route 30. The
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
forms part of the eastern town line.
Land within the town is a mixture of state and private ownership. There are dozens of seasonal hunting camps.
Rainbow Lake Dam
Rainbow Lake dam was built in 1929.
Safety inspectors had described the dam as dangerous as early as 1970, and the
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...
categorized the dam as "unsafe, emergency" in 1979. The
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protecti ...
called for the dam's removal in 2004 due to the potential to cause loss of life should the dam fail. The dam owners, connected to a New York City real estate developer and a religious non-profit organization in Brooklyn, ignored an order from the DEC commissioner that required submitting an emergency action plan, and skipped a judicial hearing, in 2013. The DEC lawyers subsequently referred the case to the state attorney general. The dam owners missed three other deadlines between 2015 and 2016; the state sued in December 2018 on grounds that the owners' unresponsiveness "amounts to a callous and wanton disregard for their legal duty to mitigate risk to life and property".
The Rainbow Lake Dam, near the hamlet of Indian Lake, New York, was removed in May 2023.
Climate
Indian Lake has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Dfb), although it is much colder than most of New York due to its high elevation and northern location. Winters are cold and snowy, while summers are warm and humid. Precipitation is abundant year round, but peaks in summer. The coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of 15.4, while the warmest month is July with a mean of 63.8. Just 0.1 day per year exceeds 90, with the last such instance coming in 1988. Days in the 80s are also relatively uncommon, with an average of just 18 per year. The record high is 105 in June 1919, but the temperature has not exceeded 95 since 1935. The record low is -42 in January 1908. The coldest temperature in a typical year is -22, putting Indian Lake in hardiness zone 4B. The record low high is -12 in 1968, while the record high low in a day is 74 in 2006.
The wettest year on record was 2011 with 60.80", while the driest year ever was 1963 with 27.42". The wettest month ever was June 1922 with 10.31" while the driest month was November 1989, with no recorded precipitation.
Demographics
According to the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 1,471 people, 651 households, and 425 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,722 housing units, with an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.96%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.34%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.14%
Native American, 0.07%
Asian, 0.75% from
other races, and 0.75% multi-racial.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 1.22% of the population.
Within the town's 651 households, 22.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.1% had a female head of household, and 34.7% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.4% had someone living alone and 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.77.
In the town, the population under the age of 18 was 20.0%, with 4.7% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 30.0% from 45 to 64, and 21.1% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $32,328, and the median income for a family was $39,438. The median income for males was $29,375 as compared to $23,661 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $17,940. A lot of people in the town commute south for work, as the Town of Indian Lake itself has very little industry. About 4.4% of families and 8.5% 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 ...
, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.
Other information
The Indian Lake Museum in the hamlet of Indian Lake contains displays relating to the historic
Indian population. The
Adirondack Museum in
Blue Mountain Lake has displays of outdoor living in the region. The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake provides cultural events during the summer season. The Indian Lake Library provides books, DVDs, audios and access to the Internet.
The lake itself was the inspiration for the 1960s hit single "Indian Lake" by
the Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island, six siblings noted for performing professionally and singing harmonies at an early age, later with their mother.
The band was formed in early 1965 by brothers Bill Cowsill, B ...
. (The writer
Tony Romeo spent vacations there at what used to be Beeches Cottages on Indian Lake.)
Once called the "Whitewater Capital of New York State", Indian Lake remains a haven. State record game has been taken from the forests surrounding Indian Lake.
Communities and locations in Indian Lake
*
Adirondack Lake – A lake located north of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Bad Luck Mountain
Bad Luck Mountain is a mountain located in Adirondack Mountains of New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, locate ...
– An elevation located east-northeast of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Baldface Mountain – An elevation located south of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Beaver Mountain – An elevation located south-southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Bell Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Big Bad Luck Pond – A lake located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Black Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Blue Mountain – A mountain located east of the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Blue Mountain Lake – A
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
near a NY-28 and NY-30 intersection. This hamlet is in the northern part of the town, north of Indian Lake hamlet. The Adirondack Museum is located north of the hamlet.
*
Blue Mountain Lake – A
lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
west of the community of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Buck Mountain – An elevation located north of Blue Mountain.
*
Burgess Mountain – An elevation located southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Blue Ridge – A mountain range south of Blue Mountain Lake. Partially in the Town of
Lake Pleasant.
*
Cascade Pond – A pond located south of the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Casey Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Castle Rock – An elevation located north of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Crotched Pond – A lake located south of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Crotched Pond Mountain – An elevation located south of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Crow Hill – An elevation located south of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Davis Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Dun Brook Mountain – A mountain located east of Blue Mountain.
*
Eagle Lake – A lake by the west town line and west of Blue Mountain Lake.
*Eagles Nest – A location west of the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Fox Hill – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Gates Hill – An elevation located south-southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Harris Rift Mountain – An elevation located north of Starbuck Mountain.
*
Hemlock Cobble – An elevation located south-southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Indian Lake – A large lake with a southwest to northeast orientation in the town of Indian Lake and the
Town of Lake Pleasant.
*
Indian Lake – A hamlet of the same name in the Town of Indian Lake at the intersection of NY-28 and NY-30 and near the north end of the lake called Indian Lake.
*
Kings Flow – A lake located east of Indian Lake.
*
Kunjamuk Mountain – An elevation located south of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Lake Abanakee – A lake east of the Indian Lake hamlet.
*
Lake Durant – A lake south of Blue Mountain Lake hamlet.
*Lake Snow – small lake located east of the Hamlet of Indian Lake
*
Ledger Mountain – An elevation located northwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Little Blue Mountain – An elevation located north of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Little Hardwood Hill – An elevation located south-southwest of Indian Lake.
*
Little Mill Mountain – An elevation located north of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Long Pond – A lake located south of Crotched Pond. Partially in the town of
Wells.
*
Long Pond Ridge – An elevation located south of Indian Lake.
*
McGinn Hill – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Middle Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Mill Mountain – An elevation located northwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Moose Mountain – An elevation located southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
P Gay Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Peaked Mountain – An elevation located north of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Pine Lake – A lake located north of the hamlet of Indian Lake. Part of the lake is in the town of
Minerva
Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...
.
*
Pine Mountain – An elevation located east-northeast of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Porter Hill – An elevation located south-southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*Rock Lake – A lake halfway between Indian Lake hamlet and Blue Mountain Lake hamlet.
*
Round Pond – A lake located east of Crotched Pond.
*
Ruby Mountain – An elevation located east-southeast of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*Sabael – A hamlet on the southwest side of Indian Lake, located on NY-30.
*
Sawyer Mountain – An elevation located west-northwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Sprague Pond – A lake located southeast of Blue Mountain Lake.
*
Starbuck Mountain – An elevation located east of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Stark Hills – An elevation located northwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*
Tirrell Mountain – An elevation located east-northeast of Blue Mountain.
*
Tirrel Pond – A lake located east-northeast of Blue Mountain.
*
Tongue Mountain – An elevation located northeast of Blue Mountain.
*
White Birch Ridge – An elevation located north of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
*Wilderness Lodge – A location east of Indian Lake near the border with
Warren County.
*
Windfall Hill – An elevation located south-southwest of the hamlet of Indian Lake.
References
External links
Indian Lake Chamber of CommerceAdirondack Experience- Official tourism website for Hamilton County, NY
A personal account Indian Lake historyAdirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake(previously the Adirondack Museum)
Indian Lake Library view near Indian Lake
Indian Lake Central SchoolIndian Lake Central School photo blog(not active since 2008)
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Towns in Hamilton County, New York
Towns in New York (state)