Introduction
Woodhull Lake is a pristine body of water located in the southern part of the Adirondack State Park. Half of the lake falls on the Adirondack League Club property while the other half backs up to state land. It is a reservoir for the New York State canal system, and originated as three individual lakes. These lakes were connected by a stream. Upon the State’s decision to create a reservoir, they hired a logging company to come through and clear cut trees in what would become Woodhull. After the logging company came through, a dam was built, the logs were floated off, and a great lake was created.
This lake has been an integral part of my family for the better half of a hundred years. Not a day goes by where I don’t voyage to my happy place mentally (fly fishing from an aluminum canoe at dusk). The lake currently has about 15 cabins, and no year-round residents. The 15 cabins are about as far from similar as possible, aside from one thing: they don’t have electricity and they don’t have true running water. That was what we told people because for a long time, it was true. Recently, though, several families on the lake have added deep cycle marine batteries and solar panels and septic systems. Not us. We have an outhouse, a composting toilet and everything else runs off of propane. One of the other incredible things about our place is that you can only get there by boat. One mile of open water separates us from our four wheeled friends.
Over the years, stories have been shared, legends have arisen and conflicts have occurred. It’s normal when something so pristine exists among mankind. I will do my very best in these stories to share some of my memories, my father’s memories, and stories that I heard growing up. Welcome to my life for the past 20 years. Brace yourselves.
The Story of Pinnacle Lodge
My grandfather started camping on Woodhull Lake years before owning a place on it. There’s a lean-too down on state land that he used to stay at with his friends. When he and my grandmother started dating, he started bringing her up to Woodhull and they both fell absolutely in love with it.
One afternoon in 1945, my grandfather was out on the lake rowing by when he noticed a for-sale sign on the front of what later became our cabin. He rowed into the dock and got out with my grandmother to check it out. The windows were boarded up so it was very difficult to see inside. Through the crack in the window, they could see a birch branch railing on the staircase. Upon seeing the railing, they decided to make an offer on the camp. They had saved $2000 in War Bonds from World War II and decided to attempt to use those to purchase the deed to the camp. Their offer was accepted and they became owners on Woodhull Lake. My father was born in March of that year and went into Woodhull for the first time at 5 months old.
Since then, Dad has felt truly home at this place. It has had many face lifts, deer and fish cleanings, and even a few Woodhull Winter Olympics. Many things have changed, but many things still remain the same from when the camp was purchased. The railing still stands, and will continue to stand for as long as I live. We still go out to the well to scoop buckets of water to drink and do dishes with. We still traverse the lake by boat, though much faster than my grandparents did in 1945.
My father’s 5 children have been raised to love and respect the paradise that is Woodhull, his 4 grandchildren visit regularly, and his wife, my mother, has found a second home. Some people believe paradise is a beach or a tropical getaway but my version is a small camp in the Adirondack Mountains.
