North Pole (New York)

North Pole is a small hamlet in the town of Wilmington in Essex County NY, near Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid.

Understand
North Pole is a tiny crossroads with only a few houses, near Lake Placid. It is home of one of the earliest US theme parks. Santa's Workshop opened on July 1, 1949, six years before Disneyland (1955), serving as a model for many theme parks of the 1950s. A postal substation was opened as "North Pole NY" in 1953 and remains open seasonally. It is possible to purchase a letter from Santa with the North Pole postmark.

The hamlet once claimed to have its own television station: while the "WPTZ 5 North Pole" studios were always in Plattsburgh, the original analogue TV transmitter site was on a mountaintop in this area. (The station no longer has any tie to the "North Pole".)

Get in
By car, North Pole NY is two miles west of Wilmington on Whiteface Memorial Highway (NY 431), a road which then ascends through parkland to climb Whiteface Mountain.

From Interstate 87 (Keeseville), take NY Hwy 9N 16 miles southwest through Au Sable Forks to Jay, then NY Hwy 86 5 miles west to Wilmington. Turn west on Whiteface Memorial Highway 431.

From Lake Placid, take NY Hwy 86 12 miles north to Wilmington. Turn west on Whiteface Memorial Highway 431.

Get around
Access is by car or bicycle, normally following the Whiteface Veterans' Memorial Highway from Wilmington.

A toll ($10/car or $6/bicycle) is charged to those continuing beyond North Pole to ascend Whiteface Mountain by road. There are various lookout points with parking on the mountain itself.

Eat and drink
Facilities are limited at the North Pole crossroads, try Wilmington.

Go next

 * Lake Placid