=Lake George=, called by the French “Lac St. Sacrament,” was discovered by Father Jacques, who passed through it in 1646, on his way to the Iroquois, by whom he was afterward tortured and burned.  It is thirty-six miles long by three miles broad.  Its elevation is two hundred and forty-three feet above the sea.  The waters are of remarkable transparency; romantic islands dot its surface, and elegant villas line its shores.  Fort William Henry and Ticonderoga, situated at either end of the lake, were the salients respectively of the two most powerful nations upon the globe.  France and England sent great armies, which crossed each other’s track upon the ocean, the one entering the St. Lawrence, the other the harbor of New York.  Their respective colonies sent their thousands to swell the number of trained troops, while tribes of red men from the south and the north were marshalled by civilized genius to meet in hostile array upon these waters, around the walls of the forts, and at the base of the hills.  In 1755, General Johnston reached Lake St. Sacrament, to which he gave the name of Lake George, “not only in honor of his Majesty, but to assert his undoubted dominion here.”

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The progress of that October month had been like the stately march of an Orient army, with all the splendor of blazing banners.  It looked as though the glories of the sunset had been distilled into it decked with the glowing hues of crimson, scarlet and gold.

    John Henry Brandow.

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The village of Lake George is situated at the head of the lake.  It contains two churches, a court house, and a number of pretty residences.  Just behind the court house is the bay where Montcalm landed his cannon, and where his entrenchments began.  It ran across the street to the rising ground beyond the Episcopal church.

=Fort William Henry Hotel= is the largest and best appointed hotel on Lake George.  It has a most beautiful and commanding location, and the view from its great piazza is one long to be remembered.  The piazza is twenty-four feet in width and supported by a row of Corinthian columns thirty feet high.  The outlook from it at all times is enchanting, commanding as it does the level reaches of the lake for miles, with picturesque islands and promontories.

About twelve miles from the hotel is Fourteen-mile Island which, with a number of others, form “The Narrows.”  The lake here is 400 feet deep, much fishing is done, and in the right season hunting parties start out.  Black Mountain, the monarch of the lake, rises over two thousand feet above its waters (being 2,661 feet above tide), and from the summit a magnificent view is obtained of Lake Champlain, the Green Mountains, the Adirondacks, and the distant course of the Hudson.

A carriage drive to Schroon Lake and conveyance from Schroon Village to Adirondack resorts can be made from Lake George.