Lakeside Lodge in Lake Placid
Nine rooms on the water twelve minutes from Main Street, with a boathouse, four canoes and a fire lit every afternoon.
One family, forty-one years, nine rooms
Stonewren sits on its own stretch of shoreline outside Lake Placid, far enough from Main Street that you hear loons instead of traffic and close enough that dinner in town is a twelve-minute drive.
Joan's parents bought it in 1985 with a leaking boathouse and four canoes. There are still four canoes. Almost everything else has been rebuilt, slowly, in the order things broke.
- ✓Nine rooms, none of them alike
- ✓A boathouse and four canoes, included
- ✓A wood fire in the great room from four every afternoon
- ✓Forty-one years with the same family at the desk
What the lake gives you
The boathouse is open from dawn until dusk and nothing on this list costs extra.
Four canoes and two kayaks
Take one whenever you like. Life jackets are in the boathouse and nobody signs anything.
A dock to fish from
Smallmouth off the end of it most of the summer. We keep rods for anyone who did not bring one.
Swimming off the rocks
Cold until July and worth it after. There is a ladder on the deep side and a shallow beach for children.
Nine Rooms, Four Kinds
Rates include breakfast, the boats and the fire. They drop hard after Columbus Day.
Send us your dates and we will tell you what is genuinely free. Nothing is charged to hold a room and you can change your mind up to a week out.
A look around
Which lodge you get, by season
The lake changes the place completely four times a year. None of them is the wrong time.
May and June
Black flies for two weeks, then the best paddling of the year and nobody on the water. The cheapest months and the ones we like most.
July and August
Warm enough to swim off the rocks, busy in town, quiet here. Book by March if you want the Loon Suite.
September and October
Cold mornings, still water, and the hillside turning. The two weeks either side of Columbus Day are the ones people come back for.
November to April
Whiteface is twenty minutes, the fire is lit by three, and a room costs about half what it does in August. Bring boots.
Eight to nine-thirty, in the great room
Cooked, not laid out, and eaten at three tables by the window rather than one long one — people on holiday do not always want to talk to strangers before nine.
If you are heading for a trailhead early, say so the night before and there will be a bag with something in it by the door.
- ✓Eggs from a farm in Keene Valley
- ✓Bread and pastry baked here
- ✓Coffee from six for the early risers
- ✓An early bag for anyone walking before breakfast
Come out to the lake
Nine rooms, and the fortnight around Columbus Day books a year ahead. Everything else is more possible than people expect.
What people write afterwards
We took a canoe out before breakfast every morning and saw one other boat all week. That is the whole reason to stay on the water rather than in town.
Forty-one years in and it shows in the small things — the drying rack for wet boots, the fire already lit, someone who knows which trail is still icy in May.
The Guide's Cabin is a short walk from the main house and completely its own thing. We brought the dog and never felt like we were in anyone's way.
How booking works
No deposit, no card held, and a person answers the phone.
Send your dates
The form below or ring the lodge. Tell us the room, how many of you, and whether a dog is coming.
We answer this evening
With what is free, the total, and anything worth knowing about that room in that month.
You confirm
That is it. Payment happens when you arrive, not before.
Plans change
Free up to a week out. Inside that we ask for one night if the room does not fill.
Before you book
The Guide's Cabin has no wifi
That is deliberate and we will not apologise for it. The main lodge has a good connection if you need one.
Black flies, late May into June
Two or three weeks, and they are genuinely bad. We will tell you honestly if your dates fall in them.
It is twelve minutes to town
Which means a car. There is no bus and the walk is along a road with no shoulder.
The lake is cold until July
People swim in June. People also come straight back out again.
Asked most often
Are the canoes really included?
Yes — four canoes and two kayaks, in the boathouse, free to take out any time between dawn and dusk. Life jackets are on the wall and there is nothing to sign. If you have never paddled, someone will come down and show you in about ten minutes.
Can we bring a dog?
Yes. The Guide's Cabin is the obvious room for one — its own door, its own porch and a hundred yards from anybody else. Dogs are welcome in the great room too, just not at breakfast, and there is no charge either way.
How far is Whiteface?
About twenty minutes in winter conditions. We are twelve minutes from Main Street in Lake Placid, and the Olympic sites are all within twenty. A lot of guests ski Whiteface and come back to a fire rather than a hotel bar.
Is breakfast included?
In every rate. It is cooked to order between eight and nine-thirty in the great room, with eggs from a farm in Keene Valley and bread baked here. Tell us the night before if you want an early bag for a trailhead.
When is the lake warm enough to swim?
Properly, July and August. People swim in June and regret it briefly. There is a ladder on the deep side of the dock and a shallow beach for children at the north end of our shoreline.
Do you take a deposit?
No. We do not hold a card and we do not charge anything until you arrive. Tell us your dates, we confirm by email, and you pay at the end. Cancel more than a week out and there is nothing to pay.
Check dates
Tell us when you would like to come and which room appeals. Someone writes back the same evening — and nothing is charged until you arrive.
- Visit usLake Placid, NY 12946
- Call us(518) 555-0146
- Email usstay@stonewrenlodge.com