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History at Bluff Point
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History at Bluff Point
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Bluff Point has long been highly regarded for its scenic magnificence and healing atmosphere as well as for its strategic importance. For almost a century and a half, citizens from around the country have come to the peaks and waterways of the Adirondack region to relieve a variety of mental and physical ailments for which fresh air and invigorating waters have been considered cures. An adept and farsighted Plattsburgh businessman, Smith M. Weed, saw the possibility for a highly successful resort at the Bluff Point Site.
Weed bought the property early in the 1870's. He convinced the Delaware and Hudson Company to join him in promoting the western shore of Lake Champlain as a resort area, which might be particularly attractive to downstate residents of means. The Delaware and Hudson Company built a railroad line to service the Northern New York area. In 1888, Weed sold the Bluff Point property to the Delaware and Hudson Company. The new owners would use the site for the establishment of a luxury resort hotel. Weed's actions have had an important long-term effect on the economy of Clinton County, as his Bluff Point venture encouraged north countrymen to market their beautiful lands as tourist attractions.
 The Hotel Champlain, circa 1900 View from Lake Champlain Click in Picture to see more Detail |
Hotel Champlain opened on June
17, 1890. The original structure featured 500 rooms and
ornate Victorian woodframe construction. Three massive
towers atop the building provided literally a
"bird's eye view" of the lake, nearby islands,
and the surrounding mountains of New York and Vermont. Featuring the ultimate in "gay-nineties" luxury, the resort left guests with no other demands upon their time but recreation. A special railroad station (the ruins of which still exist just across Route 9) delivered vacationers to a point near the bottom of Bluff Point's access hill. |
| From there, guests continued in horse drawn carriages to the hotel's entrance. There an assortment of bellhops, servants, waiters, and child care attendants saw to it that guests were not disturbed from their leisure. Bridle paths, a steamer dock, a yacht club, hiking trails, a private beach and bath house, a bar and billiard room, and children's playrooms provided guests of any age with an almost limitless variety of daily activities. |  Steamer landing at Hotel Champlain Early 1900's Click in Picture to see more Detail |
 The Hotel Champlain, circa 1900 Click in Picture to see more Detail |
Adjacent to the hotel was the third golf course established in the United States. The Bluff-Point Golf Club had opened some twenty years prior to the opening of the hotel, and soon became so popular with golfing enthusiasts vacationing at the hotel, that it was preened to a course of superb quality. Still very much in existence and going strong, the Bluff Point Club retains its reputation as a first-rate golfing facility. |
Throughout the Hotel Champlain's sixty year history, its register read like a "Who's Who in International Business, Politics and Sports." Signatures of notables included US Presidents McKinley, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Warren Harding; New York Governors Hughes and Al Smith; Britain's Lord Beaverbrook, and New York Yankee's slugger, "Babe" Ruth. The woodframe building which was the original Hotel Champlain burned completely in May 1910. Fortunately no one was injured, but the old hotel was devastated, leaving hundreds of faithful yearly visitors without their vacation paradise. Construction began almost immediately on a new structure.
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At Clinton Community College: Send feedback to Roland Schmidt at schmidr@mail.clintoncc.suny.edu |
Copyright ©: 1997 Clinton Community
College
Last modified: 13 Nov 1997
