The Sagamore

History

The Sagamore opened in 1883, financed by a number of prominent summer residents. It soon succeeded in attracting a wealthy clientele.

The hotel was named after "the Sagamore", an American Indian character in the James Fenimore Cooper novel The Last of the Mohicans (1826). Several of Lake George's nearby islands are also named after characters from the book.

Twice damaged by fire, in 1893 and 1914, the Sagamore was rebuilt in early 1921. A group of investors including Dr. William G. Beckers of New York City, one of the hotel's early stockholders, Adolph Ochs, the owner and publisher of the New York Times, Dr. Willy Myers, a New York City surgeon and William H. Bixby, a St. Louis industrialist, hired prominent local architect and structural engineer Robert Rheinlander to oversee the effort.

Throughout its history, the Sagamore has been a social center for wealthy tourists and residents of Millionaires' Row, the stately mansions along Lake George's western shore.

The hotel eventually fell into disrepair before closing its doors in 1981.

In 1983, one hundred years after construction of the first Sagamore, builder and real estate developer Norman Wolgin of Philadelphia purchased the hotel and restored it. In the same year, the resort was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The resort is currently managed by Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Ocean Properties, which bought it in 2008.

References

References

1. {{NRISref. 2007a
2. Raymond W. Smith. (May 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Sagamore Hotel Complex". National Archives and Records Administration.
3. [http://www.historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/the-sagamore/ Historic Hotel of America]
4. "About Us {{!}} National Trust for Historic Preservation".
5. "Hotel History in Bolton Landing, NY {{!}} The Sagamore Resort {{!}} Historic Hotels of America".
6. (2003). "Resort Hotels of the Adirondacks: The Architecture of a Summer Paradise, 1850-1950".
7. "Lake George Vacation Packages | the Sagamore Resort".
8. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (03/02/1934 - ). "New York SP Sagamore Hotel Complex".
9. (15 August 2008). "The Sagamore being sold". Albany Business Review.