LG tourism — August 1888

Aug. 1 was the day anglers could fish for bass in Lake George without looking over their shoulders.

“The bass season opens (on Lake George) today, and lovers of that toothsome fish may now cast without fear of Constable Bennet,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Aug. 1, 1888.

Baseball also was in season.

A pickup team from Glens Falls went to Lake George on Aug. 1 and defeated a team of Marion House hotel guests 9–5 in “a well contested game,” The Morning Star reported the next day.

“The Glens Falls boys took dinner at the hotel and returned early in the evening.”

Twenty rail car loads of Sunday School students from Schuylerville, Victory Mills and the vicinity visited Lake George for a day excursion.

The Manhattan Club was camping at Elizabeth Island, the club’s 17th annual excursion to Lake George, The Morning Star reported on Aug. 3, 1888.

“They have had the same cook for seventeen years, but have a new assistant cook every season, and his name is always ‘Johnson.’”

A group of six from Fort Edward also was camping at the lake.

“A jolly party, styling themselves the ‘Moonshiners,’ drove up from Fort Edward early this morning under the light of the moon and began two weeks of camp life.”

The Moonshiners broke up camp on Aug. 17, and the “Jonathans” took over the camp site at West Point on Lake George for the next two weeks.

The American Canoe Association was preparing for its annual meeting Aug. 10–23 on Long Island in Lake George.

Twenty-four tents were already pitched, as of Aug. 8.

The meeting had record attendance of 200 canoeists, with 53 men competing in various races.

What is today more commonly a children’s birthday party game was an adult parlor game in the 19th century.

“Monday evening found most of the ladies and gentlemen of the Locust Grove (hotel) trying to pin the tail on the donkey,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 9. “Fortunately, the donkey was without life or he might have been more than chagrined to find poor, blinded humanity struggling to pin tails on his nose, ears and feet.”

A party for 300 was planned at the Marion House.

“On Friday evening, the large dining room at the house will be cleared and merry dancers will take possession,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 15. “Guests have been invited from the other hotels and an enjoyable time is looked for.”

It was a good tourism season, based on one estimate.

“An industrious mathematician ‘figured up’ and tells the public that 100,000 persons have passed through Lake George since the opening of the season,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 18.

Click here to read the most recent previous post in this series.