4 Best Sights in Saranac Lake, The Adirondacks and Thousand Islands

The center has natural-history exhibits and hosts lectures and classes on wildlife and other nature-related and outdoorsy subjects. Nature trails here double as cross-country-skiing and snowshoeing trails in winter. From June through Labor Day you may observe butterflies in the Butterfly House, a greenhouse-like structure. The center is in Paul Smiths, 12 mi north of Saranac Lake.

In 1887 the author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island spent a year in Saranac Lake being treated for tuberculosis. Today the quaint farmhouse where he lived contains his original furniture as well as a collection of Stevenson memorabilia, including early photographs, personal letters, and his velvet smoking jacket.

American Indian art, crafts, and artifacts are on display at this small museum dedicated to preserving the culture of the Iroquois Confederacy—the Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. It was started in 1954 by Mohawk Ray Fadden and his family, who still run the place. Baskets, canoes, paintings, beadwork, and other items are hung on the walls and from the ceilings. The museum is 14 mi northeast of Saranac Lake.

President Calvin Coolidge used this great camp on Lake Osgood as his "summer White House" in 1926. Although built in 1907 and expanded in 1911 by William Massarene and Addison Mizner, the camp is noted for blending rustic architecture with a rather modern sensibility. If you're not staying at one of the guest cabins here, you may see the camp only as part of a guided tour. The tours (1½ to 2 hours) take in the bowling alley, tennis house, dining and great rooms, boathouse, and guest cabins. A Japanese teahouse on a small island is accessed by an arched stone bridge. The camp is 12 mi northwest of Saranac Lake.