This collection consists of approximately 600 vintage and a few contemporary post cards of locations, destinations and points of interest around the Cranberry Lake area.
Aerial image of Cranberry Lake.
Collection Overview
Cranberry Lake is a lake on the east branch of the Oswegatche River in St. Lawrence County, New York. It is the third largest lake within the Adirondack Park and took its name from cranberry bogs that were located there in the mid 1800s. Approximately 75 percent of the shoreline of Cranberry Lake is state owned land, including the Five Ponds Wilderness Area and the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest. The unincorporated communities of Cranberry Lake and Wanakena are the main population centers of this sparsely populated area. The timber industry and tourism, made easier by the development of railroads around the turn of the 20th century, have been historically important to the region. In addition to lumbering, several hotels and many privately–owned wilderness camps were built around the lake. By 1930’s, though, most of the lumber mills and hotels had closed and much of their land was purchased by New York State.
Some of the post cards have postal cancellations while others were never mailed. The New York State Dam, street images of Cranberry Lake community and scenes of various privately-run hotels, inns and camps make up a majority of the collection. Series two of the collection consists of vintage postcards of the Canton community and series three, postcard images of St. Lawrence University.