Born in 1945 and spent every summer on the Lake until I graduated from college and went into the Navy in 1967. Worked as a deck hand on the Mohican in the 60s. It was also great to see the Delaware and Hudson working out of Lake George. Still is my favorite place on this earth but it sure was a lot purer way back then. Thank you for posting these films , I just found them.
Thanks Walter ... I enjoy every minute I spend on this lake during the Spring, Summer, and Fall. My wife and I are relocating to Queensbury this coming Summer to spend far more time there. I remember so much as a kid going there to my grandparent's Summer home there ... like you, it is my favorite place on Earth too!!!
WOW ... cool story. I was too young to remember the train, but my grandfather would talk about it. I loved that he captured this footage to share. Glad you enjoyed .. I have about 5 videos of LG from that time period on my youtube channel. Enjoy
Decades ago I held my grandfather's coat tails as he skate-sailed over Dunham's bay. The black ice was so clear we could see the bottom, and we saw fish.☺
I remember my dad had an 8mm camera and a projector and even the white screen on a tripod you had to flip over them pull the screen down like a window screen. Our family would travel around on my dads vacation and he loved to make movies. I wish I still had those reels of home made movies my dad filmed. Alot of money went into those vacations and film and equipment my dad brought plus the film processing. He's long gone since 1991 and those home movies. Thanks for posting this video and letting me relive some great times 😊😊
These films also bring back great memories and times for me as well ... it's too bad you can't recover or find those original films .... treasures for sure!!
Brought tears to my eyes! Love that Lake! Having been born in the Glens Falls Hospital in 1950 living in South Queensbury on Lower Dix Avenue during my childhood I am now 68 living in New Braunfels, TX. Graduated Queensbury High School in 1968 and joined the Air Force in 1969 making it a career. Basically have been gone since but visited many times. Camped, fished, swam, canoed, powerboated, tried to water ski, etc, etc, etc in that lake but it wasn''t until 2014 on my 64th birthday my mother finally treated me to a ride up the lake and back on one of those old boats. Don't recall the name of the one we rode. But I spent the entire trip hanging off the bow remembering the days I spent in , and I do mean IN, Lake George as a Boy Scout with old Troop 6 from down in Glens Falls, we used to meet in the parish house right across the street (I think that was actually Bay St) from the old Glens Falls Insurance Company. So many memories! So many good times! I will love that lake forever or until one day past eternity whichever comes first!
Thanks for your note ... having spent a number of years of my youth, with my parents visiting the lake, and memories of my grandparent's camp on Bloody Pond Road, Lake George has always beckened me back. After having lived around the country, between MA, NY, OH, CA, and CO, I moved back to NY in 2005.... and much closer to Lake George in 2015. I am hoping to semi-retire this coming Oct., and we are looking to move to the Glens Falls / Queensbury area, to be even closer to my favorite place on Earth!!! Thanks for your story and memories of the Lake. Hope you can get back again ... I am up on the lake almost every weekend in the Summer with my boat. A special place for sure!!!!! Here's a couple videos of my boating time in the past several years on the lake ... enjoy, even from New Braunfels!!! th-cam.com/video/HD1Et3hhEGY/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/TJHgm5FgSiQ/w-d-xo.html
I too remember Summer's there as a kid in the 1950's and 60's. My grandparents sold their Summer camp there, and our family lost our connection to the lake. I returned after many years away, out West, and live about an hour away now ... I am usually there most weekends in the Spring, Summer, and Fall on my boat ... and I agree, it IS my favorite place in the world. When I'm there, I reflect on my grandfather's movies, and realize it really was a different time ... good to see how it was then. Hope you enjoyed!!!
Glad you enjoyed. I have enjoyed going to Lake George since I was born, and wished my Grandparent's summer home there had been kept within the family. At least I'm reasonably close enough to get there fairly often. I holds a special plate in my memories too!!
Used to go every year as a kid in the early 2000's. It was a fun time even then. Had great memories with my dad as well as my mom and my sister. My dad passed away in 2007. I'm 27 years old now. I have lived in Queens here in NYC my whole life. It was about 250 miles or so away. So it was a great getaway. I won't every forget the memories I had when my dad was alive. It's very cool to see how it was many years before I was there. Great video! Edit: used to stay at the Howard Johnson tiki hotel. That was maybe 5 or so blocks outside the town. They were always nice there.
Hey Philly J ... thanks for the post ... always great to hear memories of this lake. I too spent my childhood vacations here in the 1950's/60's with my parents. My grandparent's Summer camp was on Bloody Pond Road, just off of the lake. The Tikki is still there .. I am on the lake almost every weekend, from May to October with my boat .. live just 1 hour South. It is an amazing place .... hope you get to come back and relive some memories here ... I do each weekend!!!
@@cliffcostello That's awesome that the Howard Johnson us still there! I do plan on going back one day. Its a fantastic place place that provides a lot of memories.
I was just there yesterday and saying the same thing ... wished I could have spent time there when my grandparents and mom spent their Summers there in their camp.
I believe my Dad ran the snack bar on the Roamer when he was just a kid. My grandfather had some tour boats as well. I think he owned one called the Sayonara and I can't remember the other. Great video. I am sharing with my Dad! He will love it.
Hey PaulG, thanks. The Roamer ultimately ended up on Skaneateles Lake in Skaneateles, NY. It was renamed the Barbara S Wiles ... and was just taken out of service in 2016. Here's a link to it: www.newyorkupstate.com/skaneateles/2016/04/barbara_s_wiles_skaneateles_mail_boat_spray_mid_lakes_navigation.html
Cliff Costello I now live in Syracuse. You can imagine my Dad's surprise when we visited Skaneateles Lake for the classic boat show and there she sat. He was pretty excited!
Depending on when your dad served snacks on the Roamer, he may have remembered the old man with the straw hat and white beard. From the 1940's ... that was Al Merrick .. who was my grandfather's uncle. Al Merrick was a Lake George resident and regular. He even started the local newspaper there, the Lake George Mirror.
Thats just awesome thats this old film still exists...we like so many others have wonderful memories of Lake George from our childhoods .....being only three hours away in Montreal made is so easy to head down and the adirondacks for me are the most beautiful forests anywhere....with alittle luck the wife and i will get a bid on the wax museum if theyll sell and move there permanently ....congrats Cliff ...great vid....
+Mike La Mike .. glad you enjoyed. My grandfather shot this movie with a 8mm camera ... much of the footage either before I was born, or when I was a small child. Remember many Summers on the most beautiful lake in the world!!! I now live only an hour away and go there often. Maybe catch you up there someday!
Great video cool to see what it looked like back then love steam engine, cars, boats and trucks from that time ! My first time to LG was 1965 we went to the Worlds Fair next day up to LG for a week ! Great memories of Lake George from my childhood and going with my wife and kids through the years . Thanks for sharing your video .
Hey Steve, thanks for the comments. I also remember the late 1950's and early 1960's at Lake George with my parents and grand parents. It certainly was a different time and place then, but it still is one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever been to. I spend as much time up there as I can today ... was up there at least 6-7 times this Summer with my boat. Glad I live fairly close to this special place.
What an awesome video! How cool seeing the Mohican, beach construction, Sagamore, etc. I grew up around the Albany area (b. 1970) and my parents and aunt/uncle/cousins would spend weekends at LG in the mid 70’s. Parents had a boat they docked at Chick’s Marina and uncle kept his in a now-defunct boat house just N. of the village on 9N. Btw, last year, I visited for my 30 yr HS graduation. My gf and I hiked into the Adirondacks (Crane Pond / Oxshoe Pond) on August 5th overnight. We were woken up to Sasquatch calls that included whooping sounds, rocks smashing against trees (all call and response communication), and best of all, vocalizations / growling that were absolutely not human. We would later find out that Whitehall, roughly 14 miles away point to point, is the Sasquatch sighting capital of the Eastern U.S. All of that said, this region is amazing in a countless number of ways!
Hey Scott ..thanks for the post. My grandparent's built a camp on Bloody Pond Road just off of the lake back in 1940, and my mom spent her Summers there every year. When I was quite young, my grandparents sold it. I wished it had been kept in the family. My grandfather's family was from the area, and his uncle founded the Lake George Mirror Newspaper (Al Merrick). Many great times there for me as a kid in the late 1950's, 60's and 70's. After moving away from NY after college, I came back in 2005, and have been traveling up to Lake George since my return. Now that we are in the Albany area, I am up there most weekends with my boat. Hope to retire in Queensbury area and be on the lake as often as I can next year. These old movies from my grandfather, are priceless!!! Glad you enjoyed and brought back your own memories!!! Cliff
Still working on my family 8mm from the late 50's to mid 70's. My wives family had their 8mm put on VHS back in the 80's and then tossed the film. The VHS transfer sucked so bad I can't believe they even paid they guy. That stuff is lost forever. All of these films are priceless. Cheers.
Been trying to date these. Mohican is not steam any longer so after 1946 but still has old superstructure so before 1953. Roamer built in 1937. Cars look 40s, round Godfather styling. Great videos.
Most of the black and white film was definitely shot in the mid/late 1940's. The color clips are late 1940's and into the early 1950's. So, the comments about the Mohican are probably exactly in the right timeframe. Cars were definitely very old looking .. probably many were pre-war ... which would make sense for the mid/late 40's. Glad you enjoyed .. I posted about 5 vids .... You can see some clips of them running at an exhibit this Summer in the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls.
Love seeing this. My favorite place in the world, but it looks a lot different today. I am especially excited to see the trains! I've long known about them and have seen still pictures, but never movies. Based on the cars I'd say it was 47 or 48. The new designs really started with the 49 Ford and none of them appear.
You estimate of the year is about right. My grandfather shot these movies in the late 1940's and some were from the very early 1950's. I also love this place .. and spend almost every weekend there on the lake with my boat. I'm kind of returning to my family's roots there.
It's been so many years since I rode on the Roamer .. but I think from some of my grandfather's movie clips that the helm was on the left side. Can't remember exactly where I saw that .. but do seem to remember the Capt. on the left.
Here is another Lake George set of movies my grandfather shot .. Lake George, NY Late 1940's/Early 1950's - 8MM Movies by DC Merrick - 4 If you go to about minute 6:06 through 6:20 you'll see my grandfather pan the camera behind the capt. who is on the left side ... so I am assuming that the helm is on the left from this shot.
My great, great uncle, Alfred Merrick ... who was a well known character in Lake George and Glens Falls in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I never met him as he passed away in 1949 I believe.
Ya have some awesome vids, Lots of great memories, I have lots of photos but no vids of Diamond point or Good ol Gaslight. My comment was meant in an indearing way.
I have great memories of Lake George and surrounding areas too ... and remember Gaslight Village well. We always get a chuckle when we talk about "Uncle Al" ... while I never met him, I've heard some pretty funny stories about him. And from the looks of his scraggly beard, he could very well have been old Rip himself. LOL.
I can never understand why my grand parents and parents let the family Summer home there get away ... I would have loved to own it today!!!! My mom always shared fabulous memories of spending her Summers there. I too remember as a child getting to go and spend vacations there. I am now fortunate to live close enough to get up most Summer weekends with my boat and enjoy the lake from the water!!!
Yes, every one of my family that is in this movie is gone, except my mom and my aunt. I have great memories of them however!! Having my grandfather's films allowed me to go back in time and see my family before I was even here.
Born in 1945 and spent every summer on the Lake until I graduated from college and went into the Navy in 1967. Worked as a deck hand on the Mohican in the 60s. It was also great to see the Delaware and Hudson working out of Lake George. Still is my favorite place on this earth but it sure was a lot purer way back then. Thank you for posting these films , I just found them.
Thanks Walter ... I enjoy every minute I spend on this lake during the Spring, Summer, and Fall. My wife and I are relocating to Queensbury this coming Summer to spend far more time there. I remember so much as a kid going there to my grandparent's Summer home there ... like you, it is my favorite place on Earth too!!!
Yes it was purer back then. Especially the village.
Sweet happy visitors to Lake George!!!!! Dear sunshine peeps.
Lucia
They are!
My kindergarten class rode the last train out of the LG station. About 55-56 I’d guess. What a great video. Thanks
WOW ... cool story. I was too young to remember the train, but my grandfather would talk about it. I loved that he captured this footage to share. Glad you enjoyed .. I have about 5 videos of LG from that time period on my youtube channel. Enjoy
Decades ago I held my grandfather's coat tails as he skate-sailed over Dunham's bay. The black ice was so clear we could see the bottom, and we saw fish.☺
I remember my dad had an 8mm camera and a projector and even the white screen on a tripod you had to flip over them pull the screen down like a window screen.
Our family would travel around on my dads vacation and he loved to make movies.
I wish I still had those reels of home made movies my dad filmed.
Alot of money went into those vacations and film and equipment my dad brought plus the film processing.
He's long gone since 1991 and those home movies.
Thanks for posting this video and letting me relive some great times 😊😊
These films also bring back great memories and times for me as well ... it's too bad you can't recover or find those original films .... treasures for sure!!
Thanks for sharing!
You are most welcome.
Brought tears to my eyes! Love that Lake! Having been born in the Glens Falls Hospital in 1950 living in South Queensbury on Lower Dix Avenue during my childhood I am now 68 living in New Braunfels, TX. Graduated Queensbury High School in 1968 and joined the Air Force in 1969 making it a career. Basically have been gone since but visited many times. Camped, fished, swam, canoed, powerboated, tried to water ski, etc, etc, etc in that lake but it wasn''t until 2014 on my 64th birthday my mother finally treated me to a ride up the lake and back on one of those old boats. Don't recall the name of the one we rode. But I spent the entire trip hanging off the bow remembering the days I spent in , and I do mean IN, Lake George as a Boy Scout with old Troop 6 from down in Glens Falls, we used to meet in the parish house right across the street (I think that was actually Bay St) from the old Glens Falls Insurance Company. So many memories! So many good times! I will love that lake forever or until one day past eternity whichever comes first!
Thanks for your note ... having spent a number of years of my youth, with my parents visiting the lake, and memories of my grandparent's camp on Bloody Pond Road, Lake George has always beckened me back. After having lived around the country, between MA, NY, OH, CA, and CO, I moved back to NY in 2005.... and much closer to Lake George in 2015. I am hoping to semi-retire this coming Oct., and we are looking to move to the Glens Falls / Queensbury area, to be even closer to my favorite place on Earth!!! Thanks for your story and memories of the Lake. Hope you can get back again ... I am up on the lake almost every weekend in the Summer with my boat. A special place for sure!!!!!
Here's a couple videos of my boating time in the past several years on the lake ... enjoy, even from New Braunfels!!!
th-cam.com/video/HD1Et3hhEGY/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/TJHgm5FgSiQ/w-d-xo.html
Spent a lot of summer vacations in Lake George. Possibly my favorite place in the world. Love seeing what it was like way back when!
I too remember Summer's there as a kid in the 1950's and 60's. My grandparents sold their Summer camp there, and our family lost our connection to the lake. I returned after many years away, out West, and live about an hour away now ... I am usually there most weekends in the Spring, Summer, and Fall on my boat ... and I agree, it IS my favorite place in the world. When I'm there, I reflect on my grandfather's movies, and realize it really was a different time ... good to see how it was then. Hope you enjoyed!!!
Thank you for sharing this'' I grew up here and I have so many pleasant memory's of places I used to go when I skipped class !!!
Glad you enjoyed. I have enjoyed going to Lake George since I was born, and wished my Grandparent's summer home there had been kept within the family. At least I'm reasonably close enough to get there fairly often. I holds a special plate in my memories too!!
This town is so cute! And so are the residents. Very pleasurable people.
Seeing D&H Steam in color leaving Lake George Station is out of this world!
Used to go every year as a kid in the early 2000's. It was a fun time even then.
Had great memories with my dad as well as my mom and my sister. My dad passed away in 2007. I'm 27 years old now.
I have lived in Queens here in NYC my whole life. It was about 250 miles or so away. So it was a great getaway.
I won't every forget the memories I had when my dad was alive. It's very cool to see how it was many years before I was there.
Great video!
Edit: used to stay at the Howard Johnson tiki hotel. That was maybe 5 or so blocks outside the town. They were always nice there.
Hey Philly J ... thanks for the post ... always great to hear memories of this lake. I too spent my childhood vacations here in the 1950's/60's with my parents. My grandparent's Summer camp was on Bloody Pond Road, just off of the lake. The Tikki is still there .. I am on the lake almost every weekend, from May to October with my boat .. live just 1 hour South. It is an amazing place .... hope you get to come back and relive some memories here ... I do each weekend!!!
@@cliffcostello That's awesome that the Howard Johnson us still there!
I do plan on going back one day. Its a fantastic place place that provides a lot of memories.
Awesome video. I go to LG twice a year and always wonder what it was like back in the day. Wish I had been there.
I was just there yesterday and saying the same thing ... wished I could have spent time there when my grandparents and mom spent their Summers there in their camp.
I believe my Dad ran the snack bar on the Roamer when he was just a kid. My grandfather had some tour boats as well. I think he owned one called the Sayonara and I can't remember the other. Great video. I am sharing with my Dad! He will love it.
Hey PaulG, thanks. The Roamer ultimately ended up on Skaneateles Lake in Skaneateles, NY. It was renamed the Barbara S Wiles ... and was just taken out of service in 2016. Here's a link to it: www.newyorkupstate.com/skaneateles/2016/04/barbara_s_wiles_skaneateles_mail_boat_spray_mid_lakes_navigation.html
Cliff Costello I now live in Syracuse. You can imagine my Dad's surprise when we visited Skaneateles Lake for the classic boat show and there she sat. He was pretty excited!
Depending on when your dad served snacks on the Roamer, he may have remembered the old man with the straw hat and white beard. From the 1940's ... that was Al Merrick .. who was my grandfather's uncle. Al Merrick was a Lake George resident and regular. He even started the local newspaper there, the Lake George Mirror.
Thats just awesome thats this old film still exists...we like so many others have wonderful memories of Lake George from our childhoods .....being only three hours away in Montreal made is so easy to head down and the adirondacks for me are the most beautiful forests anywhere....with alittle luck the wife and i will get a bid on the wax museum if theyll sell and move there permanently ....congrats Cliff ...great vid....
+Mike La Mike .. glad you enjoyed. My grandfather shot this movie with a 8mm camera ... much of the footage either before I was born, or when I was a small child. Remember many Summers on the most beautiful lake in the world!!! I now live only an hour away and go there often. Maybe catch you up there someday!
Mike La .. We go every 4th of July week and labor day wkend .. I wouldn't change it for Palm beach Florida...
Great video cool to see what it looked like back then love steam engine, cars, boats and trucks from that time ! My first time to LG was 1965 we went to the Worlds Fair next day up to LG for a week ! Great memories of Lake George from my childhood and going with my wife and kids through the years . Thanks for sharing your video .
Hey Steve, thanks for the comments. I also remember the late 1950's and early 1960's at Lake George with my parents and grand parents. It certainly was a different time and place then, but it still is one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever been to. I spend as much time up there as I can today ... was up there at least 6-7 times this Summer with my boat. Glad I live fairly close to this special place.
You must REALLY love Lake George to watch these videos like ME!
Awesome job. Nice to look back. Thank you for the ride.
Look to be the building of the nightmare that is Million Dollar Beach.
My grandfather and family was there the year they were building the Million Dollar Beach .. and those are clips of it being built.
What an awesome video! How cool seeing the Mohican, beach construction, Sagamore, etc. I grew up around the Albany area (b. 1970) and my parents and aunt/uncle/cousins would spend weekends at LG in the mid 70’s. Parents had a boat they docked at Chick’s Marina and uncle kept his in a now-defunct boat house just N. of the village on 9N.
Btw, last year, I visited for my 30 yr HS graduation. My gf and I hiked into the Adirondacks (Crane Pond / Oxshoe Pond) on August 5th overnight. We were woken up to Sasquatch calls that included whooping sounds, rocks smashing against trees (all call and response communication), and best of all, vocalizations / growling that were absolutely not human.
We would later find out that Whitehall, roughly 14 miles away point to point, is the Sasquatch sighting capital of the Eastern U.S.
All of that said, this region is amazing in a countless number of ways!
Hey Scott ..thanks for the post. My grandparent's built a camp on Bloody Pond Road just off of the lake back in 1940, and my mom spent her Summers there every year. When I was quite young, my grandparents sold it. I wished it had been kept in the family. My grandfather's family was from the area, and his uncle founded the Lake George Mirror Newspaper (Al Merrick). Many great times there for me as a kid in the late 1950's, 60's and 70's. After moving away from NY after college, I came back in 2005, and have been traveling up to Lake George since my return. Now that we are in the Albany area, I am up there most weekends with my boat. Hope to retire in Queensbury area and be on the lake as often as I can next year. These old movies from my grandfather, are priceless!!! Glad you enjoyed and brought back your own memories!!! Cliff
Still working on my family 8mm from the late 50's to mid 70's. My wives family had their 8mm put on VHS back in the 80's and then tossed the film. The VHS transfer sucked so bad I can't believe they even paid they guy. That stuff is lost forever. All of these films are priceless. Cheers.
Been trying to date these. Mohican is not steam any longer so after 1946 but still has old superstructure so before 1953. Roamer built in 1937. Cars look 40s, round Godfather styling. Great videos.
Most of the black and white film was definitely shot in the mid/late 1940's. The color clips are late 1940's and into the early 1950's. So, the comments about the Mohican are probably exactly in the right timeframe. Cars were definitely very old looking .. probably many were pre-war ... which would make sense for the mid/late 40's. Glad you enjoyed .. I posted about 5 vids .... You can see some clips of them running at an exhibit this Summer in the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls.
Great video. thank you.
Love seeing this. My favorite place in the world, but it looks a lot different today. I am especially excited to see the trains! I've long known about them and have seen still pictures, but never movies. Based on the cars I'd say it was 47 or 48. The new designs really started with the 49 Ford and none of them appear.
You estimate of the year is about right. My grandfather shot these movies in the late 1940's and some were from the very early 1950's. I also love this place .. and spend almost every weekend there on the lake with my boat. I'm kind of returning to my family's roots there.
Was the Roamers helm on the Left or Right?
It's been so many years since I rode on the Roamer .. but I think from some of my grandfather's movie clips that the helm was on the left side. Can't remember exactly where I saw that .. but do seem to remember the Capt. on the left.
Here is another Lake George set of movies my grandfather shot .. Lake George, NY Late 1940's/Early 1950's - 8MM Movies by DC Merrick - 4 If you go to about minute 6:06 through 6:20 you'll see my grandfather pan the camera behind the capt. who is on the left side ... so I am assuming that the helm is on the left from this shot.
It is on the left. I watched a current video of it.
1:58 that was rip van winkel and ya woke him up and he left to head to the catskills again!! Damn ya scared him him off!
My great, great uncle, Alfred Merrick ... who was a well known character in Lake George and Glens Falls in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I never met him as he passed away in 1949 I believe.
Ya have some awesome vids, Lots of great memories, I have lots of photos but no vids of Diamond point or Good ol Gaslight. My comment was meant in an indearing way.
I have great memories of Lake George and surrounding areas too ... and remember Gaslight Village well. We always get a chuckle when we talk about "Uncle Al" ... while I never met him, I've heard some pretty funny stories about him. And from the looks of his scraggly beard, he could very well have been old Rip himself. LOL.
Great Roamer shots
That was the time to buy property there
I can never understand why my grand parents and parents let the family Summer home there get away ... I would have loved to own it today!!!! My mom always shared fabulous memories of spending her Summers there. I too remember as a child getting to go and spend vacations there. I am now fortunate to live close enough to get up most Summer weekends with my boat and enjoy the lake from the water!!!
8:50 Mohican
Love that ship ... it's been around since 1908.
Crazy to think about mostly everyone in this video is dead.
Yes, every one of my family that is in this movie is gone, except my mom and my aunt. I have great memories of them however!! Having my grandfather's films allowed me to go back in time and see my family before I was even here.
*****