Prior to the development of
railroads and the
automobile, the Saranac Lakes formed part of an important transportation route in the Adirondacks; one could travel across, from
Old Forge to
Lake Champlain, almost entirely on water. The earliest settlement on the lake was built at the south end to serve sportsmen: the Rustic Lodge, built by Jessie Corey on Indian
Carry, about 1850, was a simple
hostelry offering room, board, and guides for hunting and fishing. Bartlett's, built soon after at the site of Bartlett Carry was similar. Bartlett's Carry enabled sportsmen to get from the Upper to the
Middle Saranac Lake, while the Indian Carry crossed from Upper Saranac Lake to Stony Creek Ponds and onto the
Raquette River. In 1889, the
Wawbeek Lodge (also known as the Hotel Wawbeek) was opened on the southwest shore, north of the southern end of the lake, at the historic Sweeney Carry, another
portage route to the Raquette. Guests could choose between luxurious hotel rooms, cottages or carpeted platform tents along the shore. Despite its scenic location and lavish appointments, it closed in 1914, a victim of high operating costs and a trend toward shorter hotel stays and increasing private camp and cottage ownership. It was demolished for salvage. In 1922, a much smaller hotel was built on the site which operated until just after the
1980 Winter Olympics. A third hotel complex was established using the buildings of the Great Camp adjacent to the hotel property; it is no longer open to the public, and the buildings, designed by
William L. Coulter, have been torn down. The northern end of the lake was the site of the
Saranac Inn, built in 1864, continued in operation until 1962; it burned in 1978. At its peak, it accommodated up to a thousand guests, and was frequented by
US Presidents
Grover Cleveland and
Chester A. Arthur, and
New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes.
Camp Eagle Island was a
Great Camp built in 1899 as a summer retreat for New York Governor and United States Vice-President
Levi Morton, designed by noted architect William L. Coulter. The mainland camp, now known as Pine Brook, was originally a part of the Morton camp. Camp Eagle Island was a
Girl Scout camp from 1938 to 2008. Camp Eagle Island was included in a multiple property submission for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1986, was listed there in 1987, and was named a
National Historic Landmark in 2004. The camp property, including Eagle Island, two smaller islands, and a staging area on Gilpin Bay Road on the mainland, was purchased on November 6, 2015 by The Friends of Eagle Island, Inc. (now Eagle Island, Inc.), which now operates the property as a youth camp.
Moss Ledge and
Prospect Point Camp are two other
Great Camps on the lake designed by William L. Coulter. In the 1940s, the latter was sold, and had a brief career as a lodge, Sekon in the Pines. It was sold again in 1951, and used as a summer camp for young Jewish girls. In 1969, it was purchased by
Young Life, a Christian non-denominational ministry based in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, who use it for one-week-long educational camping sessions. The cottages that grew up around Saranac Inn (the first dozen were built by the Inn owners) still exist, as do some of the
Great Camps built in the area.
World War I, the
Great Depression and the
Income Tax combined to put an end to the Great Camp era, however; many were abandoned and lost for unpaid taxes, burned or left to crumble. Image:Moss Ledge, Upper Saranac Lake, New York.JPG|
Moss Ledge Image:Prospect Point Camp boathouse, Upper Saranac Lake, New York.jpg|
Prospect Point Camp boathouse Image:Prospect Point Camp, Upper Saranac Lake, New York.jpg|
Prospect Point Camp Image:Eagle Island Camp Upper Saranac Lake, NY.jpg|
Eagle Island Camp Image:Hotel Wawbeek - Stoddard - 1890.jpg|Hotel Wawbeek, 1890 (
Stoddard) Image:Wawbeek Lodge on Upper Saranac Lake.jpg|Wawbeek Lodge, 1900 Image:Fish Park Camp - Upper Saranac Lake.jpg|Fish Rock Camp (later Sekon Lodge), 1900 . ==See also==