Cranberry Lake and Wanakena

Susan Thomas Smeby

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781439611333
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

In the northwest corner of the Adirondack Park lie Cranberry Lake and the village of Wanakena.

This remote area was the last-settled part of New York State; from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, its name evoked the very essence of wilderness. Initially, sportsmen, naturalists, and artists flocked to the area. By 1900, summer tourism was booming. The logging industry followed, to harvest the virgin timber; after that, the state purchased the mostly cleared lands. Today, seventy-five percent of the lake's shoreline is state owned, and the Five Ponds Wilderness, south of Wanakena, is one of the largest and wildest areas in the Adirondacks.

Five

THE VILLAGE OF WANAKENA

In 1900, Wanakena was an unnamed campsite on the Oswegatchie River, at the point where it widens to become a flow of Cranberry Lake. In a few years, this was all changed. The Rich Lumber Company, owned by cousins Herbert and Horace Rich, had exhausted its timber resources in Granere, Pennsylvania. In 1901, the company purchased 16,000 acres on the southwest side of Cranberry Lake. In 1902, the company moved to create its new mill town, naming the site Wanakena. A suspension footbridge, seen in this c. 1908 card, was built for Rich Lumber Company workers. Measuring 170 feet between support towers, it connected Wanakena village on the north shore with the mill complex on the south side of the river. The bridge is still standing and, in 1999, was named to the National Register of Historic Places.

By 1905, Wanakena was a modern village with electric lights, telephones, water and sewer system, post office, railroad depot, restaurant, two hotels, boardinghouse, general store, clubhouse, church, school, dance hall, pool parlor, shoe-repair shop, barbershop, ice-cream parlor, and meat market. The upper card looks north from the mills to the center of the village. To the far left is Conroy’s Hotel. The Rich Lumber Company office is just west of the north bridge tower. The long building behind the office is the Rich and Andrews general store, and to the far right is the clubhouse. The clubhouse, seen below in a 1909-postmarked card, contained a recreation room, library, reading room, and, in the basement, bowling alleys. It was part of the Rich Lumber Company’s efforts to encourage residents to spend their free time in wholesome activities, as the company prohibited the sale of liquor on its lands. The clubhouse and the office are now private homes.

The Hotel Wanakena (seen above in 1905 and below in 1910) was one of the first buildings constructed by the Rich Lumber Company. Located at the east end of Front Street, the hotel originally consisted of the center section and two wings. In 1906, the east wing was enlarged, doubling the hotel’s capacity. Steam-heated and open all year, it featured, according to advertisements, “Rooms En Suite and with Private Baths; Dining Room, Fireplaces, Parlor and Office. Write for booklet giving in full the beauties of the Forest Primeval. William H. Bean, Proprietor.” William Bean managed the hotel until the Rich Lumber Company left in 1912. He was one of those born to run an inn. The Hotel Wanakena flourished as the “gateway to Cranberry Lake” and was very popular with New York City guests. They could board a sleeper car in the city on Friday night, spend the weekend in Wanakena, and be back to work on Monday morning.

The message on this 1907-postmarked card notes, “This is a fine view of the veranda. The much-talked-of Muggins is on the arm of Mrs. Bean’s chair.” The wife of the manager, with her sociable black cat, is seated in the fourth chair from the left. Other proprietors followed William Bean, but none were as successful in attracting tourists, and business at the hotel slowly declined. It was demolished in the 1960s. All that remains is a set of stone steps.

The Hotel Wanakena stood on high ground, and veranda sitters enjoyed a broad view over Inlet Flow. The worker’s footbridge to the mill complex is to the right. Steam from the large sawmill is visible in the background on the south shore, as well as the millpond, full of logs. The loss of the “forest primeval” may have contributed to the hotel’s decline.

This card dates to the era of O.G. Rich, proprietor after William Bean. His advertisements stated that “the dining rooms at the Hotel Wanakena are unusually light, commodious, and pleasant. The linen and silver are nice, the service quiet and well-trained, and the menu excellent.... Large, open fireplaces with their blazing logs add much to indoor pleasure and comfort.” The hotel’s setting was also gua...