054 Discover Lake Placid NY - An Adirondack Village That Welcomed the World
Discover New York Towns & Villages
Some communities become known for an industry. Others are defined by a river, a railroad or an important moment in history.
Lake Placid became known around the world because a small Adirondack community learned how to turn its mountains, lakes, snow and long winters into something extraordinary.
Twice, Lake Placid welcomed the world to the Olympic Winter Games.
But the story of Lake Placid begins long before the Olympic flame arrived.
Start With the Adirondacks
Lake Placid lies within New York's Adirondack Park, surrounded by mountains, forests, lakes and streams.
This landscape has influenced nearly everything about the community.
Mountains once made transportation difficult. Forests provided natural resources. Iron deposits helped support early industry. Lakes and wilderness later attracted visitors. Snow and cold winters eventually became economic assets rather than obstacles.
Lake Placid is an excellent example of something we repeatedly discover when exploring New York:
Geography helps shape history.
Lake Placid Is Actually a Village
The name can be a little confusing.
There is a lake named Lake Placid and a Village of Lake Placid.
The village itself lies within the larger Town of North Elba in Essex County.
And the body of water most visitors see immediately beside downtown is not Lake Placid.
It is Mirror Lake.
Lake Placid lies just beyond it.
Understanding that geography makes the community much easier to understand when you visit.
Iron Before Olympics
Early development in the North Elba area was connected in part to natural resources.
Iron ore deposits in the Adirondacks encouraged mining and ironworking in the region during the nineteenth century.
Lake Placid was inhabited by the early 1800s, when an iron mill was operating in the area.
The surrounding forests also supported logging and other activities associated with an expanding Adirondack economy.
Long before people came here to ski, skate or vacation, people were trying to make a living from the resources of the mountains.
John Brown and North Elba
The Lake Placid area also has an important connection to the history of slavery and abolition in the United States.
In the 1840s, wealthy New York abolitionist Gerrit Smith offered Adirondack land to Black New Yorkers as part of an effort to help them become independent landowners.
Abolitionist John Brown became involved with the settlement effort and moved his family to North Elba in 1849.
Brown later became nationally known for his militant opposition to slavery and his 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
After his execution, his body was returned to North Elba.
Today, John Brown is buried at his former Adirondack farm, preserved as the John Brown Farm State Historic Site.
It is a reminder that this quiet mountain landscape is connected to some of the most difficult and consequential questions in American history.
The Adirondacks Become a Destination
During the nineteenth century, Americans increasingly began viewing wilderness differently.
Mountains and forests were no longer valued only for timber, minerals and other resources.
They were also places to escape cities, experience nature and recreate.
Visitors began traveling into the Adirondacks for hunting, fishing, boating, hiking and the mountain air.
Hotels and elaborate Adirondack camps appeared throughout the region.
Tourism became an industry.
Melvil Dewey and the Lake Placid Club
One person who had an enormous influence on Lake Placid was Melvil Dewey, best known for developing the Dewey Decimal Classification system used by libraries.
Dewey helped establish the Lake Placid Club, which became an important resort and social institution.
Like many Adirondack resorts, Lake Placid initially focused largely on summer visitors.
Then came an important idea:
Why close when winter arrived?
Turning Winter Into an Advantage
The Lake Placid Club remained open during the winter of 1904-1905.
Instead of treating snow and cold as reasons visitors could not come, the community increasingly promoted them as reasons people should come.
Skating, skiing, bobsledding and other winter activities developed.
Lake Placid became known as an important winter resort.
That decision would eventually change the community forever.
The Olympics Come to the Adirondacks
Melvil Dewey's son, Godfrey Dewey, became instrumental in bringing the Olympic Winter Games to Lake Placid.
The idea seemed ambitious.
This was not a major international city.
It was a small village in the Adirondack Mountains.
Yet Lake Placid had something larger communities often lacked:
A community already deeply committed to winter sports.
Lake Placid was awarded the 1932 Olympic Winter Games.
1932 — The World Arrives
In February 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression, athletes from around the world arrived in this small Adirondack community.
More than 350 athletes representing 17 countries participated.
Lake Placid athlete Jack Shea won two gold medals in speed skating, becoming one of the hometown heroes of the Games.
The Olympic facilities were designed with continued use in mind, helping Lake Placid maintain its connection to competitive winter sports long after the closing ceremonies.
The Olympics were not simply an event that happened in Lake Placid.
They became part of Lake Placid's identity.
Building a Winter Sports Community
After 1932, Lake Placid continued hosting winter competitions and developing facilities.
Figure skaters trained there. Bobsled competitions returned. Skiing expanded.
In 1958, the development of Whiteface Mountain added an important alpine skiing center to the region's winter sports facilities.
Lake Placid continued pursuing international sporting events.
And community leaders began working toward something that must have seemed almost impossible:
Bring the Olympics back.
1980 — Lake Placid Does It Again
Nearly half a century after the first Games, Lake Placid hosted the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.
The scale had grown enormously.
More than 1,000 athletes representing dozens of countries came to the Adirondacks.
Facilities were expanded and modernized. Whiteface Mountain received an extensive snowmaking system. New ski jumps were constructed. The Olympic Center expanded.
And then came one of the most remembered moments in American sports history.
The Miracle on Ice
On February 22, 1980, the United States men's hockey team faced the heavily favored Soviet Union.
The Soviet team had dominated international hockey for years.
The American team consisted largely of young collegiate players.
The United States won 4-3.
The game became known as the “Miracle on Ice.”
The Americans then defeated Finland to win the Olympic gold medal.
The arena where that game was played remains part of Lake Placid's Olympic Center.
You can still walk into the building where it happened.
Five Gold Medals on the Oval
Another remarkable performance was taking place only a short distance away.
American speed skater Eric Heiden won all five men's speed-skating events at the 1980 Games.
He won five gold medals while setting Olympic records in every event.
Those races took place on the speed-skating oval located right in the village.
That is one of the remarkable things about Lake Placid.
Olympic history isn't isolated in some distant stadium district.
It is woven directly into the community.
The Olympic Legacy Continues
After the 1980 Games, New York State created the Olympic Regional Development Authority to manage and maintain the region's major Olympic facilities.
The venues continued to host athletes, competitions and visitors.
Lake Placid therefore did something that can be difficult for Olympic host communities:
It continued using much of what had been built.
The Olympic story became part of an ongoing winter sports economy rather than simply a historical memory.
But Lake Placid Is More Than the Olympics
It would be easy to visit Lake Placid and see only Olympic history.
That would miss much of what makes the community interesting.
The Adirondacks are still the foundation of the experience.
There are mountains to climb, lakes to paddle, trails to explore, forests to walk and wildlife to observe.
The High Peaks rise nearby.
Mirror Lake provides a striking centerpiece for the village.
Lake Placid itself stretches beyond downtown.
And the surrounding landscape explains why people began traveling here long before anyone imagined an Olympic Winter Games.
What to Notice When You Visit Lake Placid
Start by looking beyond Main Street.
Look at the mountains surrounding the village.
Notice how close wilderness feels to downtown.
Walk along Mirror Lake and remember that the lake immediately beside the village isn't actually Lake Placid.
Look at the Olympic speed-skating oval and imagine athletes racing there while spectators from around the world filled this tiny Adirondack community.
Step inside the Olympic Center and think about the 1980 hockey game that took place there.
Look toward the ski jumps rising above the landscape.
Travel toward Whiteface Mountain and consider how the geography itself became part of Lake Placid's economy.
Then visit the John Brown Farm and encounter an entirely different chapter of American history.
Most importantly, notice how all these stories overlap.
Wilderness.
Natural resources.
Tourism.
History.
Recreation.
Winter sports.
And an international event that returned not once, but twice.
A Small Village with a Very Big Story
Lake Placid demonstrates something important about New York's communities.
A place does not need to be large to have an enormous influence.
A small Adirondack village took the very things that might once have made life difficult — mountains, isolation, cold and enormous amounts of snow — and eventually turned them into strengths.
Then it invited the world to come and see.
Twice.
When you visit Lake Placid, look beyond the Olympic rings.
Look at the mountains, lakes and forests around them.
That landscape is where the story really begins.
Discover New York Towns & Villages
This article is part of the Discover New York Towns & Villages series from Zehr Discover NYS. Together we'll explore communities across New York State and discover the geography, history, architecture, industries, transportation and people that helped make each place unique.
Learn the place. Explore the story. Discover New York.