The Hulett Hotel on Lake George circa 1913-1915. (Click image to see full scale – large file 8.3 MB’s)
Excerpted from the Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George
November 14, 1915, was a Sunday. The Glens Falls Times and Messenger reported that the night had been fair and slightly colder. The weather that morning was clear and cool. Sunday was considered a day of rest, and most people would have been attending morning church services. By mid morning, there were only two people on the grounds of the Hulett Hotel. They were the caretaker, Willis Foster, who was expecting a quiet day, and Mr. Adelbert Buckell, the brother of Henry W. Buckell, the former owner.
The day would soon change things forever. Willis Foster smelled the smoke first and then spotted the fire coming from the hotel’s roof-line near the main chimney. By the time he saw it, it was already a blazing inferno. Because it raged from the upper floors near the center of the building out toward the ends, it appeared to have started near the chimney. When Foster discovered it, it had reached such proportions that it was impossible to put out. It burned fast and quick; it burned hot. He and Adelbert Buckell were alone by all accounts. Upon discovering that the fire could not be brought under control, the shock must have been instantaneous. What greater regret could the lonely caretaker have felt than to see the historic structure go up in flames on his watch?
The conflagration was so great that it was spotted almost immediately from across the lake. The fire did not stop at the hotel, either, quickly jumping to three nearby cottages as well. The Ticonderoga Sentinel reported:
The small number of men who crossed the lake to assist [Willis Foster] could do but little more than stand idly by and watch the flames eat up the buildings. From the hotel the fire spread to the three nearest cottages, all of the buildings burning like tinder. There are twenty cottages in connection with the hotel and for a time it was feared that all or most of them might go up in smoke, but, fortunately, the fire was confined to the three nearest the hotel.
Imagine the poor caretaker, Foster, discovering the roaring inferno in a deserted, out-of-the-way place like Huletts Landing, with little immediate assistance from neighbors and no fire company to respond. No wonder men rowed from across the lake to help. Those neighbors from the lake’s opposite shore knew when they saw flames that their assistance would be needed.
Accounts are few and unclear, but one of the men present, either Foster or Buckell, galloped off on horseback to round up assistance throughout the hamlet. A nearby neighbor, Cora Phillips, was one of the first people to arrive after she saw the thick black smoke. What a scene it must have been, with neighbors rowing across the lake and either Foster or Buckell doing his best imitation of Paul Revere, riding through the town shouting for help. Anyone seeing the smoke or hearing the cries would have immediately stopped what he was doing and run to the fire. All the while, the conflagration ate more of the hotel, spewing black smoke and bright orange flames high into the air.
The fire worked its way out of the center of the second floor, and within a half an hour, the west end of the hotel was completely gone. Because the day was somewhat windy, the fire easily jumped to nearby cottages.
Soon, more neighbors arrived and formed a bucket brigade to stop the fire’s spread. They were fortunate that the wind died down and the fire was prevented from spreading to additional cottages.
Within only two hours, the fire had completely destroyed the Hulett Hotel and three nearby cottages. Charred cinders and ashes were all that were left of the hotel. People from throughout the landing and the town of Dresden had come to look for themselves. The brick fireplace, remnants of the scarred chimney and some building supports were all that remained.