History

From Steamboat to Summer Camp

TUSCARORA was part of a transportation network that included railroads, stagecoaches, and steamboats to reach a remote resort. In 1929, when a good, hard-surfaced road was completed between Raquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake, TUSCARORA and the rest of the fleet were mothballed. But unlike other Adirondack steamboats, the TUSCARORA was not scrapped or scuttled. Instead, she survived—and thrived—as a family camp on the northeast shore of the lake, with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and living quarters, a modern adaptation of an old wooden structure.

As a summer home, TUSCARORA retained her original appearance. To this day, the hull is intact, and the decks, pilot house, smokestack, purser’s office, and even lifeboats have been carefully stored, awaiting the next chapter in a story that spans the Gilded Age to modern times.