Saranac Lake

Saranac Lake is a village in the Adirondacks in New York state. It lies in the towns of Harrietstown, St. Armand, and North Elba, inside the boundaries of Adirondack State Park.

Understand
The area was first settled in 1819; a dam and sawmill were built in 1827, a school was built in 1838, and the first local hotel opened in 1849. Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau arrived in 1876, believing the cold, clear mountain air to be helpful in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis; his Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium was established in 1884. The Trudeau Institute, an independent medical research organisation established in 1964, is a successor to Dr. Trudeau's 1884 Saranac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis. Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, the doctor's great-grandson, grew up in Saranac Lake and maintains connections there.

Hundreds of "cure cottages", private residences with large, glassed-in porches where patients could benefit from the clear mountain air, were constructed in this era. The 1944 introduction of antibiotic drug streptomycin largely supplanted prior treatments for tuberculosis by the 1950s; the buildings were re-purposed, with sixty-three of those still extant in Saranac Lake listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.

The "great camps of the Adirondack Mountains", elaborate summer homes for the wealthy, became common in the region near the end of the 19th century as rail travel placed upstate vacation areas such as the Adirondacks and the Thousand Islands within easy reach for New York City's well-heeled elites.

Five thousand people live in the village. North Country Community College, a two-year public college established in Saranac Lake in 1967, has 1500 students, 143 permanent and 300 adjunct faculty. Paul Smith's College, a private four-year college in the adjacent hamlet of Paul Smiths NY, was established in 1946 and now has a thousand students.

By bus

 * Adirondack Trailways runs from Albany or Montreal.

By car
Saranac Lake is within the Adirondack park and relatively isolated; there are no Interstate highways in the immediate area.


 * From Lake Placid, take NY 86 seven miles (11km) northwest.
 * From Plattsburgh and I-87, take NY 3 (the highway through the park to I-81/Watertown) some fifty miles (80km) southwest.

Get around
One quality of Saranac Lake is lack of heavy vehicle traffic. Walking is the perfect way to explore the town.

There is local bus service twice daily to Lake Placid.

See



 * There is a small, but nice, museum in the basement of the Saranac Lake Free Library.
 * During the winter, there is a grand castle of ice located on Lake Flower.
 * There is a small, but nice, museum in the basement of the Saranac Lake Free Library.
 * During the winter, there is a grand castle of ice located on Lake Flower.

Do

 * Water Sports
 * Lake Colby has a nice beach and places to picnic in the grass near the water.
 * Water Sports
 * Lake Colby has a nice beach and places to picnic in the grass near the water.

Events

 * First Night Saranac Lake, New Years Eve, fireworks and festival of the arts.
 * Daffest, spring daffodil festival, late April/early May (two weekends)
 * 4th of July Celebrations, a week of celebration with a July 4 kids' parade down Main Street, fireworks near Lake Flower.
 * Can-Am Rugby Tournament, end July/first week in August.
 * Plein Air Festival, landscape painting and art festival, mid-August.
 * Canoe Classic - 90 Miler, three-day race from Old Forge to Saranac Lake, weekend after Labour Day.
 * Artist at Work Studio Tour, tours of artists' studios on the last Saturday of July, August, September.
 * Cycle Adirondacks, the first fully supported road-bike tour of the Adirondack Park, late August.
 * Cycle Adirondacks, the first fully supported road-bike tour of the Adirondack Park, late August.

Buy


Saranac Lake has several very pleasant Art Shops. It also has book stores (one new, one used) and a fine Army Surplus store. Next door, is a beautiful Native American shop. For healthy, organic food, herbs, and peaceful atmosphere, try Noris. There are some antique stores, but if you want a real adventure, search through The Gold Mine.

Go next

 * Lake Placid
 * North Pole and Wilmington