19th century Luzerne — Wayside opens for season

The Wayside Inn at Lake Luzerne introduced a new feature for the 1894 season: employee uniforms.

“The girls made a charming picture last Saturday morning as they appeared in neat black dresses and dainty white caps,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on July 12, 1894. “It was justly remarked that bread and water would be appetizing when served by such daintily arrayed maidens, and in the inimitable manner in which food is always served at The Wayside.”

A prosperous tourism season was expected.

“The Wayside Inn of Luzerne, one of the most delightful summer resorts in northern New York, has opened the season with most flattering prospects. As its hospitable doors are thrown open each summer to the throng of people who come from their homes in the city to enjoy the health-giving breezes for which Luzerne is famous, it is found that the courteous and popular manager, E.C. King, has spent time and thought in doing everything possible conducive to the comfort and amusement of his guests.”

In other 19th century Luzerne news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• A new hotel was opening.

“The new hotel which is to open on May 15 has been christened the Elmwood. W.J. Kinnear will be the proprietor,” the Luzerne correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on May 12, 1894.

• “Those who drive to Corinth from the village (of Glens Falls) now find it necessary to go by way of Luzerne. The old ferry boat has been pulled out of the river on the Luzerne shore, and is undergoing repairs,” The Morning Star reported on April 28, 1894.
• “The requisite notice has been served on the town clerk to call a special meeting to vote whether a bridge should be built across the Hudson River at Corinth,” The Morning Star reported on June 29, 1894.

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