During the Depression years of the 1930s, this village took advantage of federal aid to put through a number of worthwhile projects. One such project was the construction of a road along the south shore of Lake Simond. Before that road became a reality, there were only a few camps on Simonds Pond, as it was then known. Note: On petition of the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce, the N.Y. State Committee on Geographic Names in 1957 officially approved the renaming of Simonds Pond to Lake Simond. That new name has only met lukewarm acceptance – most residents and even recent maps apparently preferring the traditional Simonds Pond.
Indeed, as Louis Simmons has pointed out in his comprehensive history, Mostly Spruce and Hemlock, “that beautiful body of water did not attract its first permanent camp until 1912.”
That first camp, still remaining sheltered by tall pines, was built by Warren G. Hubert of Yonkers. Mr. Hubert and his bride spent their honeymoon in this area in 1911. Intrigued with the scenic beauty and fabulous fishing, they purchased 20 acres on the north side of the lake from the A. Sherman Lumber Company, which had built in 1888 one of the first mills here. A. Sherman was owned by the Sisson family of this community and Potsdam. Their total holdings encompassed 90,000 acres, much of it along the Racquette River.
Mr. and Mrs. Hubert spent 50 consecutive summers there. For many years, the Huberts were a common sight that has remained in the memory of this writer as they would head up the lake to their camp. They kept their beautiful chris-craft on a slip at Bill Shea’s family camp. Dr. Hubert never failed to start out in low power until they were beyond the shoreline camps. Only then, when he had reached the broader expanse of the lake, would he accelerate, the engine making an impressive roar of power as the boat’s bow pointed home to Hubert Point.
Homer Folks, a neighbor of the Huberts at Yonkers, erected the second camp on the lake in 1914. The third camp on Lake Simond was erected in 1916 by William Adams of Lawrence, Long Island. He was the father of Lewis Adams, a New York City architect, who drew up the plans for the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake. The camp still exists under the careful stewardship of family members. It is located in a sheltered bay where the outlet of Little Simond Pond (then called Lake Wilbert) tumbles off a shoulder of Mr. Morris and quietly enters the lake.
I grew up spending most of my youthful summers at one of those camps that was erected when the south shore road was extended. Simonds Pond by this time had quickly become a busy summer colony. It was a mix of year-round residences and seasonal camps. There were many youngsters of my own age whose parents had built camps or rented camps for extended periods.
A close-knit group of friends soon developed, and each succeeding summer during those youthful years (until well up into the middle 1940s and the war years) Simonds Pond was an exciting place for youngsters.
Next door to my parents’ camp was the Flower City Camp (now the year-round home of Mike and Mary Chartier), owned by an energetic, resourceful, wonderful gentleman by the name of Jacob Hauser from Rochester, N.Y. Almost every morning, just as the sun rose over Roundtop Mountain up the lake, Mr. Hauser would boat three miles to neighboring Tupper Lake. Here, located just off County Line Island, he had a whitefish buoy that he kept baited with a mixture of rice and perch chunks. This buoy was located in over 80 feet of water, and Mr. Hauser had developed a method of lowering a weighted can full of bait to the very bottom of the lake to insure the large fish laying there received it. Once the can was lowered to the bottom, he would trigger the cover, thus releasing the bait, or chum. Mr. Hauser used a stout rubber band to attach his baited hook (baited with a minnow) to his leader so he wouldn’t tear the tender mouth or miss the sensitive strike so deep down in the water.
He was usually back from fishing as our family was finishing breakfast. He rarely took more than three or four fish, mostly 7- and 8-lb. beauties, often shared with his neighbors. I might mention that in those days, whitefish were considered the ultimate, best-tasting, most delicious fish in the lake.
Among other fine neighbors were Mary and Joe Mercurio, who rented cottages and called their place Peace Haven. The people who rented there came back year after year. Joe was originally from Boston, a personable, soft-spoken host whose voice reminded me of Bing Crosby. Today, when on occasion I can’t remember my own telephone number, I can distinctly remember a sign tacked to the wall of the Mercurio’s boathouse: “Allah does not deduct from one’s allotted time those hours spent fishing.”
A list of some of the camps, starting at the head of the lake, is as
follows:
• William Adams, Lawrence, Long Island
• Mrs. Charles Hathaway
• Franklin Sidway of Syracuse
• Howard Smith of Potsdam
On the “Island:”
• Mrs. Helen Skinner, New York City
• Warren Hubert, Yonkers
On the Mainland:
• “Teacher’s Camp, Beaver Burton, NYC
• Clinton D. Fuller, Conifer
• Emporium Forestry Company
• Mrs. Bhina Burton, New York City
• Dr. R.L. Cook, former chief of staff at Sunmount
• Al Brockman, commander of the Benjamin Churco Post (1935)
• Fred Clark, Faust, owner of Clark Lumber Company (later C.E.L.)
• Harold Bentz, Saranac Lake
• Dr. R.J. Patten, Sunmount
• George Lewis, Potsdam
• Archie Baril, Superintendent of Highways here for many years
• M. Herd, New York City
• Eugene Germain, New York City
• Tom Somers, owner of Ford Distributorship
• Mrs. Mayme Greene, owner of Greene’s Dress Shop
• Frank Dinet, whose confectionary company was later purchased by Major
Day Sr.
• J. Howard Brown, trustee of the bank and owner of Brown Brothers store,
located in the
former Sabin’s Building on Park Street
• Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hervieux, owners of New Brunswick Hotel
• Miss Stella Kiebel, Rochester
• Jacob Hauser, Rochester
• The Frenette Camp
• George Harrington, famous pioneer guide
• William Shay, marina
• Arthur Huntington, early settler
• Joe Mercurio
• Allen Flanders
• Peter La Montagne, Superintendent of Tupper Lake Power and Light Company
and
partner in the Sabin Electric firm
• Harold Emmons, Rochester
Next we come to the “pump house,” built by Col. Barbour to push the water of Little Simond to the village. After that was the home of Michael Manning, located on the site of the George McBride homestead (late 1850s). And we must mention Gaustaf Sonnleitner, music composer, whose Camp Lure lay adjacent to the Manning home.
This collection of the 1935 Lake Simond camp colony, where once a lone hunter named Elijah Simond was the only person on the lake, brings us to “Hill Crest Farm,” owned by Charles Hathaway, who was famed for his strawberry crop and maple syrup grove where the Moody village line begins.