LG tourism — August 1890

Maury Thompson
2 min readMay 5, 2023

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The Kattskill House baseball team added some talent for their game against Hague on Aug. 1, 1890.

“Garnet Hunt, catcher, and J.M. Hunt, pitcher, college students, will play with the Kattskills,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported.

Fresh fish was on the menu at The Grove House at East Lake George.

“James Bennett and Joseph M. Smith of New York do the fishing for The Grove House,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Aug. 4. “On Saturday they brought in a very fine string of perch and bass, the largest weighing three pounds. They also brought in quite a string of yellow bass, commonly called pumpkin seeds.”

It’s unclear how this 19th century parlor game was played.

“At the soap bubble party at the Grove House, gotten up by Miss Lizzie Oberbaugh, Mrs. Bannister of Newark, N.J. won the first prize, a very nice plaque, hand-painted,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 14. “The first prize for gentlemen was carried away by John Vogt, of Brooklyn, a silver paper cutter.”

About 600 tourists were housed at various hotels and boarding houses at Kattskill Bay.

“The houses in Kattskill Bay are starting to bulge out, they are so full.”

On Aug. 14, H.F. Kennedy, chief guide at the U.S. Capitol, presented a stereopticon show of 100 views of the Capitol and Washington D.C. at The Fort William Henry Hotel.

It was a busy tourist season.

“Hotel and livery men at Lake George report a rushing business, the present week being the height of the season. There have been more than double the number of private teams at the lake this year than in any previous season, and frequently the stabling capacity has been taxed to the utmost,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 21.

“Saturday the steamer Horicon carried the largest load of passengers and baggage on its trip south than she has had on either way this season,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 26.

A new energy technology, in its early phase of development, was being experimented with.

“A novelty might have been seen at the public dock at Caldwell yesterday. It was a rowboat fitted with a screw and electrical apparatus. The craft is owned by a young man who is experimenting with electricity as motive power.”

On Aug. 28, The Morning Star reported that The Fort William Henry Hotel and the Lake House were both at nearly full occupancy.

On Aug. 29, The Morning Star reported that The Sagamore had 275 guests and the Marion House was “about full.”

The Locust Grove hotel had 28 guests, and Bolton House 48.

The Sagamore baseball team defeated the Bolton House team 21–19.

Click here to read the most recent Lake George tourism history post.

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Maury Thompson
Maury Thompson

Written by Maury Thompson

Freelance history writer and documentary film producer from Ticonderoga, NY

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