TROUT LAKE HAMLET

Inscription

TROUT LAKE HAMLET
RESORT HOTEL ERECTED HERE 1877
BY ASA GARDNER, DESTROYED 1903
IN FOREST FIRE. LOT DIVIDED
AND HAMLET LATER DEVELOPED
INTO LAKESIDE COMMUNITY.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2022

In 1877, Asa Gardner erected the Trout Lake House, a resort hotel on Trout Lake, located in the southern part of the Town of Hermon in St. Lawrence County, New York. The August 2, 1877 edition of the Hermon Advertiser noted that the hotel was “erected with great care” and provided a description of the “beautiful lake upon whose shores the Trout Lake House is situated.” The popular Trout Lake House offered year-round accommodations, entertainment, and meeting venues in a forested, serene lakeside setting.

The hotel was destroyed in a 1903 forest fire. The May 24, 1903 edition of the New York Sun reported on the devastating fire that had been burning through the Adirondacks, stating that:

The men of Edwards, Hermon and other towns have been heroically fighting a forest fire which started last week in the woods in the rear of the Trout Lake Hotel, a famous summer resort, twelve miles north of Gouverneur. Notwithstanding their efforts the fire destroyed the hotel.

Despite its destruction, the success and popularity of the Trout Lake House prompted community development and launched waterfront residential and vacation economic growth. Upon the property where once stood the resort hotel, the lakeside community of Trout Lake Hamlet grew and prospered.