Lake George (Mohawk: Kaniá:taro’kte, "Lake-End") known as the Queen of the Lakes in the United States, is a long narrow oligotrophic lake located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains, in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York. It lies within the upper region of the Great Appalachian Valley and drains northward into Lake Champlain, which is in the St. Lawrence River drainage basin. The lake is situated along the historical natural (Amerindian) path between the valleys of the Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers, and so lies on the direct land route between Albany, New York, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The lake extends about on a north–south axis, with a maximum depth of , and a width that ranges from , presenting a significant barrier to east–west travel. Although the year-round population of the Lake George region is relatively small, the summertime population can swell to over 50,000 residents, many in the village of Lake George region at the southern end of the lake.
Lake George drains into Lake Champlain to its north through a short stream, the La Chute River, with many falls and rapids and drops along its course, virtually all of which is within the lands of Ticonderoga, New York, and near the site of Fort Ticonderoga. Ultimately, the waters flowing via the Richelieu River drain into the St. Lawrence River downstream and northeast of Montreal, and then into the North Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia.
History The lake's original name is Kaniá:taro’kte, sometimes transcribed as Andia-ta-roc-te. It was named this by Mohawk members of the Iroquois Confederation. James Fenimore Cooper in his narrative Last of the Mohicans called it the Horican, after a tribe which may have lived there, because he felt the original name was too hard to pronounce.James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales, Volume One, ed. Blake Nevius (New York: Library of America, 1985), 476
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. He never actually saw the lake. In 1646, the French Canadian Jesuit missionary St. Isaac Jogues, the first European to view the lake, named it Lac du Saint-Sacrement (Lake of the Holy Sacrament), and its exit stream, La Chute ("The Fall"). The 1696 proposed war plan of John Nelson referred to the subject as "Lake Mohawk"."America and West Indies: September 1696, 21-25." Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 15, 1696-1697. Ed. J W Fortescue. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1904. p. 136. British History Online Retrieved 30 March 2023.
On August 28, 1755, 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. On September 8, 1755 the Battle of Lake George was fought between the forces of Britain and France resulting in a strategic victory for the British and their Iroquois allies. After the battle, Johnson ordered the construction of a military fortification at the southern end of the lake. The fort was named Fort William Henry after the King's grandson Prince William Henry, a younger brother of the later King George III.
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. A French army, and their native allies under general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm laid siege to Fort William Henry in 1757 and burned it down after the British surrender. During the British retreat to Fort Edward they were ambushed and massacred by natives allied to the French, in what would become known as The Massacre at Fort William Henry.
On March 13, 1758, an attempted attack on that fort by irregular forces led by Robert Rogers was one of the most daring raids of that war. The unorthodox (to Europeans) tactics of Rogers' Rangers are seen as inspiring the creation of similar 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.
Later in the war, British General John Burgoyne's decision to bypass the easy water route to the Hudson River that Lake George offered and, instead, attempt to reach the Hudson through the marshes and forests at the southern end of Lake Champlain, led to the British defeat at Saratoga.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison traveled through Lake George during their Northern tour in 1791, sailing twenty five miles up to Lake Champlain. 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 Martin Johnson Heade, John F. Kensett, E. Charlton Fortune, Frank Vincent DuMond and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Ethan Allen accident
On October 2, 2005, at 2:55p.m., the Ethan Allen, a glass-enclosed tourist boat carrying 47 passengers and operated by Shoreline Cruises, capsized during calm weather on the lake. According to reports from a local newspaper, 20 people (mostly senior citizens) died.
Initial reports indicated that the tour group was from Canada, but these reports were later found to be incorrect. It was later determined that the group was from the Trenton, Michigan, area on a week-long fall trip along the East Coast by bus and rail, organized by Trenton's parks and recreation department and arranged through a Canadian company. Police said they had never seen a disaster of this magnitude on the lake. The captain survived and cooperated with police.The Albany Times Union, TRAGEDY ON LAKE GEORGE, Special Report; retrieved May 12, 2008.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the incident revealed that, although the boat was rated to carry 50 people when it was manufactured in 1966, subsequent alterations to the boat's design had greatly reduced its stability. At the time of the accident, the boat should have been rated to carry no more than 14 passengers. On February 5, 2007, the captain, Richard Paris, and the company that owned the boat, Shoreline Cruises, were indicted for having only one crew member aboard the boat. More serious charges were not filed because neither the captain nor the owners were aware they were violating safety standards.
Water quality Lake George is rated Class AA-Special by New York State and is considered drinking water. Despite being one of the top ten cleanest lakes in the United States in 2023 and 2024, Lake George is also on New York's 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies.
Geography Lake George is located in the southeastern Adirondack State Park and is part of the St. Lawrence watershed. Notable landforms include Anthony's Nose, Deer's Leap, Peggy's Point (a jump into the lake) or (a jump), the Indian Kettles, and Roger's Rock.
Some of the surrounding mountains include Black Mountain, Elephant Mountain, Pilot Knob, Prospect Mountain, Shelving Rock, Sleeping Beauty Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Tongue Mountain Range. Some of the lake's more famous bays are Basin Bay, Kattskill Bay, Northwest Bay, Oneida Bay, and Silver Bay.
The lake is distinguished by "The Narrows", an island-filled narrow section (approximately long) that is bordered on the west by the Tongue Mountain Range and the east by Black Mountain. In all, Lake George is home to over 170 islands, 148 of them state-owned. They range from the car-sized Skipper's Jib to the larger Vicar's and Long Islands. Camping permits are available for most islands.
The lake's deepest point is , between Dome Island and Buck Mountain in the southern quarter of the lake. The northern end of the lake that is located near Ticonderoga is considered the southern end of the Champlain Valley, which includes Lake Champlain, as well as the cities Plattsburgh, New York, and Burlington, Vermont.
The Jefferson Project, a collaboration that began in 2014 between IBM, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Fund for Lake George, is collecting data from the lake using depth sensors that can monitor currents, pH, salinity, and other data, leading the lake to be called, "[t]he smartest lake in the world."
Invasive species There are six known invasive species in Lake George. The Asian clam first found in 2010 is the biggest threat, along with the Eurasian watermilfoil. Other invasive species are the Chinese mystery snail, curly-leaf pondweed, spiny water flea, and zebra mussel.
Character Tourist destination
Situated on the rail line halfway between New York City and Montreal, Lake George attracted the era's rich and famous by the late 19th and early 20th century. 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 opened at this time to serve tourists. The wealthiest visitors were more likely to stay with their peers at their private country estates.
Lake George is accessible by car via Interstate 87. The nearest large airport is Albany International Airport, which is about away.
Today, Lake George remains a tourism destination, resort center, and summer colony. Popular activities in the Lake George area include water sports, camping, amusement parks, hiking, paddling, and factory outlet shopping. Lake George is also toured through traditional steamboat rides on vessels such as Le Lac du Saint Sacrement and the Mohican, provided by the Lake George Steamboat Company. One of the nation's oldest gatherings of hot air balloons occurs every September in nearby Queensbury.
Lake George is responsible for generating about $2 billion annually to the local region.
Summer Camps Lake George and its surroundings became a significant center of the organized children's camp movement in the early twentieth century. The lake's proximity to New York City and Boston, combined with its mountain setting, made it a natural location for the private boys' camps then emerging across the Adirondacks. Between 1900 and 1910, at least nine boys' camps were established across the Adirondacks — most on Lake Champlain or Lake George — as part of a broader national movement arguing that children benefited from structured outdoor experience rather than summers spent at resort hotels. In 1910, Silver Bay on Lake George hosted the first official camp of the Boy Scouts of America.
Among the earliest camps established on Lake George was Camp Iroquois, founded in 1900. Adirondack Camp for Boys was founded on the lake in 1904 by Dr. Elias G. Brown, a physician who served as president of the Camp Directors Association of America — the predecessor to the American Camp Association — from 1911 to 1912. YMCA Camp Chingachgook was established on the East Shore of the lake in 1912 by the Schenectady YMCA.
Several camps established on Lake George in the early twentieth century continue to operate today, including Adirondack Camp, founded in 1904, and YMCA Camp Chingachgook, founded in 1912.
Millionaires' Row