Program

Historic Transportation

Subject

Site, Transportation

Location

2521 Co Hwy 22, Richfield Springs, NY 13439, USA

Lat/Long

42.83536, -74.989118

Grant Recipient

Richfield Springs Historical Association Museum

Constructed in the 1840s, the Lake House sits on Canadarago Lake in Richfield Springs, New York, a popular lake for fishing, boating, and swimming. From 1882 until 1911, pleasure steamers, small passenger vessels powered by steam engines that were designed for leisure or recreational purposes, docked at the Lake House. From its dock, steamers offered visitors excursion trips around the lake.

In July 1882, Captain George Sweet began operating the T.R. Proctor from the dock at the Lake House, offering guests at the hotel a “day enjoying a ride on the steamer” (Richfield Springs Mercury, July 15, 1882). The trip around the lake took about an hour. Captain Sweet operated his steamer until 1897 (Richfield Springs Mercury, June 24, 1897; Richfield Springs Mercury, July 8, 1897). After this, the 40-passenger steamer Vixen docked at the Lake House. It remained popular with guests and visitors, offering roundtrips from the Lake House and special moonlight rides on the lake.

In the early 20th century, pleasure steamers began to lose popularity as faster, more efficient forms of transportation emerged, including diesel-powered vessels. By 1911, steamers had made their final stop at the Lake House in Richfield Springs, bringing this tourist attraction to an end.