Paul Smith's Adirondack Hotel and College
()
About this ebook
Neil Surprenant
Neil Surprenant teaches history and is the director of the library at Paul Smith�s College. He lectures extensively on the history and development of the Adirondack Park, works for the National Park Service on history and library projects, and has published numerous articles. The photographs in Paul Smith�s Adirondack Hotel and College have come from the college archives.
Related to Paul Smith's Adirondack Hotel and College
Related ebooks
The Adirondacks: 1931-1990 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdirondack Ventures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMcCully's New Brunswick: Photographs From the Air, 1931-1939 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Accidental Jewel: Wisconsin's Turtle Flambeau Flowage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDied in Long Beach: Cemetery Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaikus and Photos: Hawaii's Exotic Landscapes: Haikus and Photos, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNova Scotia Travel Adventures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMission Hills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld Country Stores of New Hampshire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDenver Landmarks and Historic Districts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWestern Washington Reflections: Stories from the Puget Sound to Vancouver Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Mexico: A Guide to the State & National Parks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrossing California: A Cultural Topography of a Land of Wonder and Weirdness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAcross the Continent by the Lincoln Highway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Travel in Europe as a US Retiree: Everything You Need to Know and Do Before You Go 2021-2022 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUpper Nisqually Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTop Trails: Northern California's Redwood Coast: 59 Must-Do Hikes for Everyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Clock: The Story of Miller & Rhoads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Budget Traveller's Guide to Accommodations on Vancouver Island, Canada Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArizona's Scenic Roads and Hikes: Unforgettable Journeys in the Grand Canyon State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History Lover's Guide to Albuquerque Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTampa Bay & Florida's West Coast Adventure Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Monk's Guide to Happiness: Meditation in the 21st Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look Up, Long Beach! A Walking Tour of Long Beach, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYOUR LIFE HERE IS AN INSPIRATION The Journals of Richard L Proenneke 1986 - 1991 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Doing Good: Where Passion Meets Action Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Best Hike: Yosemite's Half Dome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wintering: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Adirondacks: 1830-1930 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Landmarks and Monuments of Baton Rouge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Industries For You
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5YouTube Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shopify For Dummies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study of the Federal Reserve and its Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uncanny Valley: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary and Analysis of The Case Against Sugar: Based on the Book by Gary Taubes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArtpreneur: The Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living From Your Creativity Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scientific Advertising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Not to Start a T-Shirt Company Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5YouTube 101: The Ultimate Guide to Start a Successful YouTube channel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Eleventh Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCDL - Commercial Driver's License Exam, 2024-2025: Complete Prep for the Truck & Bus Driver's License Exams Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related categories
Reviews for Paul Smith's Adirondack Hotel and College
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Paul Smith's Adirondack Hotel and College - Neil Surprenant
College.
INTRODUCTION
Apollos Austin (Paul) Smith was born in Milton, Vermont, in 1825. He was expected to work in the family lumber and sawmill business, but there was a problem with this: he was not interested. He left home at about the age of 16 and got a job on the canal boats that ran north and south through the lakes and canals between Albany and Montreal, Quebec, in Canada. When the waterways froze every winter, Smith was forced to return to logging. By his early 20s, he came up with a way to avoid that life completely. When the canal season ended, he traveled into the western mountains, the Adirondacks, to hunt, fish, and trap. This was a way to supplement the family income without having to log or work in the mill at all. It did not take Smith long to realize that he liked the hunting and fishing a lot more than he even liked working on the canal boats.
Smith decided that the best job he could get would be to turn his passion for the outdoors into his living. He convinced his family that their future was in the Adirondacks. They sold the business and moved to Loon Lake. There they opened a rough country inn called Hunter’s Home. Smith’s mother did the cooking and cleaning. His father raised animals and a garden to feed their guests. Smith’s job was to guide the men who came to stay at Hunter’s Home on hunting and fishing trips through the Adirondack wilderness. The family prospered in their new life.
Hunter’s Home had one large bunk room on the second floor where the men slept in their bedrolls. It was only for men because it would have been inappropriate for men and women to share quarters in those days. Dr. Hezekiah Loomis from Boston was a frequent guest.
Loomis wanted to bring his family to the mountains, and he was so impressed by the job young Smith did running Hunter’s Home that he offered him money to buy or build a new inn as long as it would accommodate women and children. Smith took Loomis to a spot on the shores of Lower St. Regis Lake in Franklin County that he knew was for sale. They agreed that the location was perfect. Smith purchased the land and started construction on a new hostelry in the summer of 1858.
While Smith was building his hotel in 1858, he was also courting Lydia Helen Martin of Franklin Falls. She was born in AuSable Forks on August 29, 1834. She and Smith met at a dance near Loon Lake. After dancing the waltz all evening, their courtship began. They were married on May 5, 1859. They did not enjoy much of a honeymoon because their new 17-room hotel, at first called the St. Regis Lake House, opened that summer, and there was a lot of work to do to get the place ready.
In the early days of the hotel, Paul guided all of the sportsmen himself. Lydia did the cooking and cleaning for their guests. There were not many places where a family could stay in the wilds of the Adirondacks at this time, so business was good from the start.
They received a real boost to their hotel from an unlikely source. The Civil War started in 1861. In 1863, the Union instituted the first draft in American history to fill the ranks of its armies. The one legal way out of this draft was for a man to pay $300 for a substitute to take his place. Many young men who paid to get out of the draft left their urban homes for the wilds of the Adirondacks and the St. Regis Lake House just to get out of sight of their neighbors. They carried word of the great food, superb hunting, cleanliness of this backwoods retreat, and the Smiths’ hospitality back to the richest families in the north. After the war, this word-of-mouth advertising led to a boom in business.
By 1870, Paul and Lydia’s roles changed to management as they hired more and more workers for their expanding business. While Paul ran the operations related to what would today be called guest services, Lydia used her education to take on operations. They were both entrepreneurs, but she does not get the credit she deserves in this partnership.
An example of Lydia’s skills was her instigation of the renamed Paul Smith’s Hotel Company’s dealings in land. In 1887, she purchased 10,000 acres of land around the St. Regis chain of lakes. In 1889, 4,000 acres more were added, and $20,000 was paid for an additional 13,000 acres in 1891. She anticipated that the wealthy visitors to the hotel would be interested in owning their own waterfront lots in the mountains. She was correct, and these well-off visitors then