Massawepie Lake
| Massawepie Lake | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | St. Lawrence County, New York |
| Coordinates | 44°15′18″N 74°38′40″W / 44.255008°N 74.6445°WCoordinates: 44°15′18″N 74°38′40″W / 44.255008°N 74.6445°W |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 750 acres (300 ha) |
| Surface elevation | c. 1700 ft (520 m) |
Massawepie Lake is located in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, U.S., and a Boy Scout camp surrounding the lake. Lake Massawepie is located in the town of Piercefield, in southern St. Lawrence County, New York, approximately 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the village of Tupper Lake, New York. The lake is approximately 750 acres (3.0 km2), at an elevation of approximately 1700 feet (520 m) above sea level, and flows south into one of the tributaries of the Grasse River. The name of the lake itself is Iroquois origin, meaning "the beaver's lake".
One of most notable geographic features is the Massawepie Mire located immediately to the south of the lake. It is bordered by two long north-south eskers. Hundreds of acres in size, the bog is one of the largest of its kind in the eastern United States and is almost entirely on the Boy Scout camp's property.
In 1890, the Childwold Park House, commonly known as the Childwold Hotel, open on the shore of Massawepie Lake, just east of the main flagpole of the current camp. In the days before air-conditioning, upperclass residents of New York City would retreat to the Adirondacks to escape the summer heat. Visitors to Childwold Park would take the New York Central Railroad north from Utica and get off at Childwold Station. From there they would take a 7-mile (11 km) trip along the Carriage Road to the hotel. The hotel burned down in 1910.