Village of Round Lake in Upstate New York
Victorian Era Architecture on National Registry of Historic Places
Nov 3, 2009
What is now the Village of Round Lake in upstate New York, began as a Methodist church camp for people living in nearby Albany and Troy. The first camp meetings, held in 1868, were attended by 8000 people – many sleeping in tents near the round glacial lake that is “…1 mile in diameter, 3 miles in circumference and 29 feet at its deepest point…” as described in the book Round Lake: Little Village in the Grove.
In years to come the Round Lake Camp Meeting Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church would see tens of thousands of people attend the summer camp with expanded programming that included “classes in Greek and Hebrew, art lessons, studies on the prophets, temperance meetings and talks by experts.” In 1872 some of the land was divided into plots with a 99-year lease for $100/plot, and by the 1880s, cottages modeled after those on Martha’s Vineyard were being built to provide more permanent housing.
By the turn of the 20th century, there were 5 hotels, an academic institution, an art museum, a shopping arcade, a trolley, train station, post office, two churches, a library and the Auditorium.
Round Lake Auditorium
The Auditorium, erected in 1885, houses the “ ‘oldest, largest three-manual essentially unaltered organ in the United States…with 1,980 pipes…24 feet wide, 16 feet deep, and 34 feet high…’ “ By 1887, this summer camp retreat became a thriving educational and cultural center with year-round residents.
After coming under disrepair from neglect in the 1950s, the Auditorium and the pipe organ were refurbished and once again in use for Round Lake’s centennial in 1968. The Auditorium remains a central gathering place for lectures, musical performances and art exhibits for the residents of the Village of Round Lake.
Round Lake Library
The Round Lake Library, established in 1897, is also still in use and is currently in the process of opening a second library in the town of Malta. According to Donna Liquori in the November 1, 2009 Times Union newspaper article, “Library borrows from patrons”, the library board is encouraging people to permanently “loan” their used books as a way to inexpensively stock the shelves of the new library.
A stroll through the Village of Round Lake NY takes visitors back in time to what was once a prominent Victorian village. The residents of the Village of Round Lake have preserved and refurbished the Victorian cottages to make this tranquil hamlet, located off Route 87 in between the state capital of Albany NY and the famous horse-racing resort town of Saratoga Springs, worth a visit.
Source:
Hesson, Mary. Rogowski, David J. Comfort, Marianne. Round Lake: Little Village in the Grove. NY: Round Lake Publications, 1998.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
