Donaldson's Campsite

This large stone boathouse at the entrance to Fish Creek Bay sits at the north end of the campground's beach. It was part of George Earle's Camp Aiyupka.

Donaldson's Campsite is a 700-acre parcel west of The Narrows of Upper Saranac Lake south of Fish Creek Bay and east of New York Route 30; it has some 1.7 miles of lake frontage. 

The property was originally some four thousand acres owned by Talbot Taylor, who planned a luxurious camp there. But in 1916, financial reverses led to the land being sold to George H. Earle, Jr. who built two camps there; see Camp Aiyupka.  The stone boathouse was part of one of the camps. Earle was the father of Pennsylvania Governor George H. Earle III.

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Lake Placid News, September 1, 1916

An estate of 4,000 acres on the Upper Saranac Lake known as the Taylor property, situated between the camp of Miss Isabel Ballantine and the Saranac Inn highway, has been purchased by George H. Earle of Philadelphia.

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Adirondack Record, March 30, 1917

CAMPS COSTING $150,000 TO BE BUILT

George H. Earle of Philadelphia, who already has extensive camps on the St. Regis and Osgood Lakes, has begun the construction of a series of camps on the Upper Saranac Lake, which, when completed, will have cost upward of $150,000. The camps of Mr. Earle on the Upper Saranac Lake will be located on Fish Creek Bay on the Talbot Taylor property, which he recently purchased.

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