In the earliest of times it was called Lindermere. A rough translation from the Indian word In-ca-pah-co. It was called that because of the prominence of basswood or American linden on its shores.
Perhaps you remember the elegant thirty-five-foot war canoe with In-ca-pah-co neatly lettered along its hull and paddled by the talented women’s team of, yes, Long Lakes, as Lindermere is known today.
The same vigor and dedication that characterized the women seated in that canoe continues today among Long Lake residents. As is well-known, the community has gained the admiration and, indeed, the envy of all who are aware of its many successes in building a very pleasant and busy village. It can boast an excellent school system (they pay their teachers well) with an incredibly low student-to-teacher ratio and a high rate of success among its graduates. It has a first-rate medical facility (it attracts young, vigorous, outdoor-loving MDs) and an excellent fire department and rescue squad all located in a vibrant community with honest, sincere, wonderful people. There are approximately 800 year-round residents in that enterprising community, but the town itself consists of an area covering 448 square miles, making it the second-largest town area-wise in New York State. For a time, the closing (temporarily it is hoped) of the nearby National Lead Company’s titanium operation in Newcomb due to cheaper extraction costs by competitors abroad, impacted local employment opportunities. There was also a sense of personal loss to those who had been employed there as loyal and productive employees for many years. Fortunately, however, other employment opportunities were available. The Adirondack Museum, a ten-minute commute, employs thirty to eighty people (over half of those numbers are, of course, seasonal). Twenty minutes away, Sunmount Rehabilitation Center in Tupper Lake employs over 700 people, and in the same town the O.W.D. has a payroll of over 250 people. Four correctional facilities withing a forty-five minute commute also offers employment opportunities. That’s just a glimpse of what’s available. The point is, it is possible to live in a small town and still find stable (and improving) compensation that will allow you to stay.
Long Lake was one of the earliest settlements in this region. The first settler being Joel Plumley around 1830.
In 1841, there were already eight or nine families (most of whom were from New England) who had found their way to the shores of that beautiful lake and established the beginnings of a settlement.
The names of those early settlers are of great interest, if only because most are familiar today, 158 years later. Names that belong to prominent residents who are direct descendants of those adventuresome pioneers. Those eight or nine families below:
Joel Plumley
David Keller
James and Robert Sergeant
William Kellog
Zenos Parker
William Austin
Isaac Robinson
Lyman Mix
Burton Burlingame
For many years, hampered by its isolation from easy access, the prospects of growth in Long Lake were grim. Until around 1918, the only way to get there was by water. That ruled out even light industry. There was precious little horizontal land, so farming was not a real option. What it did have were beautiful mountains, restful, gorgeous lakes, and secluded ponds.
Thus, if “progress” seemed to be passing them by, it turned out that the very “lack of progress” became of enormous attraction as the “quality of life” revolution started in the 1970s.
The community saw scores of newly retired people and parents not wishing to raise their children in hostile surroundings of the ever-sprawling cities. Increased leisure time on the part of people now only hours away on the Northway from the population centers where they lived also created an influx. And, yes, C.E.O.s from the corporate world who with their Sony Vaio laptops could now conduct their business from modernized gazebos or tea houses transformed into virtual offices equipped with video conferencing and e-mail capabilities. No longer did Father have to reluctantly leave the lake and family on Sunday so he could catch the next day’s 5:40 a.m. out of Westchester.
Long Lake has become for many an “oasis from insanity,” as one recent transplant termed it. The discovery that many people had known for years (not all happy to share) was out!
Howard Frank Mosier, the fine regional novelist writing about Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom in his most recent book, The Fall of the Year, has one of his characters, Mr. Moriarity Mental, saying: “There’s one thing we have to give those small towns. The wonderment ain’t all been leached out of them.” And in Long Lake there is still all kinds of wonderment.
Next Transitions: Some Long Lakers remembered.