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The Village of Lake George is located at the south end of Lake George and the unincorporated village of Ticonderoga is at the northern end. The area is a well-known resort center and summer colony.
There are several towns and villages on the shore of the lake. The southern most, Lake George village, is especially popular with tourists. To the north is Bolton Landing, substantially quieter and more affluent. Bolton houses the largest of the Lake's resorts, the Sagamore Hotel. The center of Bolton lies on Bolton Bay, as does Green Island (Sagamore Island). At the north end of the lake are Silver Bay, Hague and Huletts Landing.
Lake George Geography
Lake George is located in the Adirondack Park and mountain range. Notable landforms include Anthony's Nose, Deer's Leap, Roger's Rock, the Indian Kettles, Diver's Rock (a 15ft jump into the lake), and Double-Diver's (a 30ft jump). Some of the mountains include Tongue Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Prospect Mountain, Shelving Rock, Pilot Knob, and Black Mountain. Some of the more-famous bays are Silver Bay, Kattskill Bay, Northwest Bay, Basin Bay and Oneida Bay. The lake is distinguished by "The Narrows," an island filled narrow section (approximately five-miles long) that is bordered on the west by Tongue Mountain and the east by Black Mountain. In all, Lake George is home to approximately 165 islands, most of them state owned. They range from the car-sized Skipper's Jib to larger Vicar's and Long Island.Camping permits are attainable for the larger portion of islands. As of recent, an island has been renamed "Cell Phone Island" due to its ability to receive wireless signals. Another island titled "Seagull Island" started out as a small rock which was then increased in size by hundreds of layers of seagull droppings.
Lake George History
The first European visitor to the area, Samuel de Champlain, noted the lake in his journal on July 3, 1609, but did not name it. In 1646, the missionary Isaac Jogues named it Lac du Saint-Sacrement, and the exit stream as the river La Chute (the fall).
On August 28, 1755, Sir William Johnson led British colonial forces to occupy the area in the French and Indian War. He renamed the lake as Lake George for King George II and built a protecting fortification at its southern end. The fort was named Fort William Henry for the King's grandson Prince William Henry, a younger brother of the later King George III. On September 8, 1755 the Battle of Lake George was fought between the forces of Britain and France.
In September, the French responded by beginning construction of Fort Carillon, later called Fort Ticonderoga, on a point where La Chute enters Lake Champlain. These fortifications controlled the easy water route between Canada and Colonial New York.
On March 13, 1758, an attempted attack on that fort by irregular forces lead by Robert Rogers was one of the most daring raids of that war. The unorthodox (to Europeans) tactics of Rogers' Rangers are seen as the inspiring the later creation of similar special forces in later conflicts — including the United States Army Rangers.
Lake George’s key position on the Montreal-New York water route made possession of the forts at either end — particularly Ticonderoga — strategically crucial during the American Revolution.
In 1775, in a daring winter assault, American troops had captured the fort and, with it, the British artillery. The Americans, led by Colonel Henry Knox transported the cannons by sledge over the frozen lake, across the Berkshire Mountains, arriving in Boston on the 24th of January 1776. The unexpected arrival of the captured cannons in Boston broke the stalemate between the British forces, commanded by General Gage, who held the city and General George Washington’s troops who were laying siege to it. After Washington’s forces managed to place the cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British abandoned the city.
Later in the war, British General Burgoyne’s decision to bypass the easy water route to the Hudson River that Lake George offered and, instead, attempt to reach the Hudson though the marshes and forests at the southern end of Lake Champlain led to the British defeat at Saratoga.
On May 31, 1791, Thomas Jefferson wrote, in a letter to his daughter, "Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw; formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves... down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony."
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lake George was a common spot sought out by well known artists including E. Charlton Fortune and Frank Vincent DuMond.
Lake George, A Tourist destination
At one time, Lake George was one of the nation's first elite tourist destinations. Conveniently situated on the rail line halfway between New York City and Montreal, the lake became a magnet for the era's rich and famous by the late 19th and early 20th century.
Tourists from all over North America and Europe flocked to Lake George and the surrounding majestic Adirondack Mountains. By the turn of the 19th century Lake George was equaled only by Newport, Saratoga and the Hamptons as a summer enclave for America's aristocracy. Members of the Roosevelt, van Rensselaer, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Whitney families visited its shores. The Fort William Henry Hotel, in what is now Lake George Village, and The Sagamore in Bolton Landing were popular spots for those who could afford a "vacation", something that was only then becoming available to a privileged few. The wealthiest of the period were more likely to stay with their peers at their private country estates.
Created as part of several other leadership training facilities located throughout the nation, the Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George was constructed in 1900. It has since evolved into a summer family camp, serving several hundred organizations and tourists every summer.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
