Saranac Lake’s guideboat roots

The Adirondacks was in its youth as a home and a recreation destination in the early 1840s. Dense woods, rough terrain, and a lack of previous settlement made these mountains and lakes some of the wildest places east of the Mississippi. The Moody family were the first to make Saranac Lake their home in 1819, but it wasn’t until Martin’s Saranac Lake House opened along the shores of Ampersand Bay in 1851 that it became a notable destination for wilderness seekers. Martin’s was the first true hotel in the region and the end of the road after a long journey via stagecoach from Au Sable Forks. Naturally, the new hotel required livery boats for guests to take out along the Saranac Lakes and beyond. For this reason, the hotel’s proprietor William F. Martin hired a boat builder from Jay, William McLenathen, to build and maintain his livery fleet. 

McLenathen would have been familiar with boats that were in use along Lake Champlain, but more notably, the boats in use along the Ausable River during logging drives. Built with a flat bottom board and strong sawn frames, these boats required no internal bracing and were sturdy while maintaining a low weight. The river bateau was in no way a fine boat for wealthy guests to recreate and lounge in, nor was it light enough to easily make the carry south through Stoney Creek Ponds to the Raquette River. To dress up this design, McLenathen narrowed the bottom board, added curvature to the ribs, thinned the planking, and changed it to a lapstrake-sided boat. He also shaped the stem to an attractive curvilinear profile and utilized a high-tucked transom like those seen on Whitehall boats of that time. The resulting boats were fast, light, stable, and attractive enough to secure confidence from the clientele. This became known as the Saranac Boat, and was the standard for early recreation in the Adirondacks. When paired with a knowledgeable guide, a client could spend weeks in the wilderness and never need to paddle themselves or make up camp. The Saranac Boat could be carried and propelled by one individual while carrying all the necessities for two on an Adirondack excursion. 

Early development

McLenathen’s greatest contribution to the Adirondack region may have not been his own boats, but rather who he taught. Willie Allen Martin, the hotel owner’s son, spent much of his time in the hotel boat shop, and eventually became a builder in his own right, taking over the hotel’s shop. It was Willie Martin who transitioned the Saranac Boat to a smooth-skin craft, implementing the new guideboat lap style of planking, making the boat even lighter and faster, while also quieter for use as a hunting boat. These new smooth-planked boats became known as “Willie Allen's eggshells." During Willie’s early years, he and Caleb Chase of Newcomb began building their boats as double-enders, meaning they were pointed at both bow and stern. With this final development, the profile of the Adirondack Guideboat was complete and the standard for all guide’s boats throughout the park was set.

It was in Martin’s shop on Saranac Lake where other prominent builders learned the skill of guideboat building, which was now specialized and unlike other boats of the time. Martin mentored builders like Henry Kilburn Martin, Theodore Hanmer, Alric B. Moody, and Isaac Hurst. Those builders went on to then teach and influence the likes of John H. Rushton, Willard Hanmer, Carl Hathaway, Robert W. Frenette, Allison W. Warner, Rob Davidson, Chris Woodward, and eventually myself, Nathaniel Atkinson. Martin’s building lineage and his Saranac Lake shop has led to and influenced the sole surviving lineage of traditional guideboat builders in the Adirondacks.

Carrying on the guideboat legacy

As the Adirondack forests developed and quality guidebooks/maps became easy to acquire, the average recreationist became more self-sufficient. Guiding became less common, and in turn, the guideboat struggled to fit in on waterways filled with steamboats and Canadian-style canoes. By the 1900’s, the time of the guideboat was waning, only 30 years after its prime. By the late 1950’s, Willard Hanmer was the sole active guideboat builder, only one generation removed from his father Theodore Hanmer, who was a notable builder during the prime years of the guideboat. 

Hanmer carried on building boats until he passed away in 1962. He had taught Carl Hathaway, an assistant in his shop, parts of the trade. It was Hathaway who continued the craft, and from 1980-1988 taught classes in building guideboats at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake. 

To honor Willard Hanmer’s contribution to the legacy of the Adirondack guideboat, the Willard Hanmer Memorial Guideboat Race was first held in 1963. After taking a ten year break, the race returned in 2022 and is set to continue this year on July 7. It is a 3.5-mile guideboat race starting on Lake Flower, before making its way down the Saranac River. Canoe, kayak, and stand-up paddleboard divisions are also included in the race. This year, the holiday week will start off on July 1 with the third annual guideboat show hosted in the ballroom of Hotel Saranac, and will continue until after the Sunday race.  

Events like the annual Hanmer race help to keep the tradition of the guideboat alive amongst a day and age vastly different from its humble beginnings as a workboat born of necessity in a rough and wild landscape. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, also plays a key role in carrying on the guideboat legacy. It is through their research of the guideboat and their builder-in-residence program that I work to educate residents of the park on this remarkable artifact of Adirondack life. Their guideboats are actively acquired, studied, 3D modeled, and built on display for visitors to see and learn from. While the guideboat’s place in the Adirondacks is smaller than it once was, it is far from gone. The community and passion surrounding this niche watercraft are a clear indicator of the importance of our proud heritage of Adirondack ingenuity and appreciation of our beautiful landscape. The history of Saranac Lake, and its connection with the origin of guideboats, lives on in races like the Willard Hanmer, and the support of the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake. 

Don’t miss out on spectating the guideboat race on July 7. This celebration of Adirondack craft is the perfect opportunity to see them in action, while also getting out and enjoying the waters surrounding Saranac Lake yourself! It also happens to cap off Celebrate Paddling ADK, a month-long celebration of all things watercraft, with events that you need to check out!

This story was written by Adirondack Guideboat builder Nathaniel Atkinson.