Herewith, a bit of history of the Lake View House, as captured in a variety of photographs, postcards and other archival material we have collected:
LVH Brochure ca. 1895
LVH Brochure ca. 1905
Brochure circa 1912 Click on images to ENLARGE
The Lake View in the 1890s. Note the croquet wicket in the foreground.
The LAKE VIEW HOUSE in Bolton on Lake George, N.Y. is "just a plain, old-fashioned house, where the young people may enjoy themselves and quiet people take comfort." Situated on a wooded headland, and within 100 feet of the water. A view of the open Lake, the narrows, with its clustering islands and enclosing mountains unsurpassed anywhere on Lake George. Table supplied with the best that the market affords. Modern plumbing and bath, best of water from a mountain spring. Fishing, hunting, boating, tennis, billiards, music room for dancing. Good roads for driving or autos. Long distance telephone; free conveyance to house. Rates $12 to $17.50 per week, $2.50 to $3.00 per day.
(D&H Guide, 1911; Seelye history 1897)
View North from Lake View 1879, Seneca Ray Stoddard
"The Lake View offers from its windows and piazzas a view of the Narrows and its clustering islands. Accomod. for 125 guests. large music hall, tennis grounds, large fleet of boats, dark room for photography, bath houses, pure spring water, telegraph office. Four daily mails. Billiards and Bowling. For further information, address R.J. Brown, Prop." The Lake George Mirror, June 29, 1895
"The grounds around the Lake View are pleasant, and the effort has been quite successfully made of leaving nature's perfect work untouched while relieving it of unsightly objects, and making all parts trim and accessible. There are detached buildings here for bowling and billiards, open space for croquet and tennis, retired walks, cozy seats and pleasant outlooks."--Stoddard, Lake George Illustrated, 1892
Stoddard PhotoPanorama, LVH at left, 1892
Aug. 1909: To Mrs. Joseph R. Good, St. Joseph, Missouri. "We are leaving for home today (Tuesday). Will write as soon as I arrive home. Have had a delightful time. Hope to see Tom soon. Love to all. E.G.B."
Postcard from LVH, 1904
Aug. 9, 1904
To: Mrs. John W. Walker Claverack , NY Dear Mamma,
If you get a piece of wood through the mail for me please save it . It is a souvenir from St. Louis. I asked Lizzie Jackson in S. to send me one. She and her mother have gone. Elsie got hers today, it is the greatest thing out, read what it says on it. Bessie
Elsie says can't come until Thursday afternoon. "we'll see"
Aug 23 1906 3 pm Bolton Landing NY
To Miss Bertha Sisson, Lake George, NY
Hello Bertha we girls went to the fair yesterday. wish alice and you were here to go with us. Irene
1906 LVH Postcard
Reservation confirmation from R. J. Brown, 1907
FDR on the Lake View House dock, 4th of July 1921. In 1920 FDR was the Democratic nominee for Vice President and when that bid failed, he went into banking as a vice president in the NYC office of Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, where he served from 1921 until elected governor of New York in 1928. It was in the summer of 1921, however, the very summer he is pictured here on the dock at LVH, that he was stricken with polio. He was 39 at the time. ("W.D." is William Dalton, one of the three owners of LVH at the time along with Eleanor Roosevelt's brother, Hall Roosevelt, and the conservationist John Apperson; they had apparently divided the docks up among the three families.) That's Eleanor, top row, third from left.
