A Cabin in Hague May Be Your Ticket to the Past

If the sound of a fisherman’s two-stroke engine coming to life on a foggy morning, the nightly smell of wood smoke or being immersed in a cold lake are wonderful but buried memories, one of two cabins on northern Lake George, now offered by McDonald Real Estate Professionals, may be the alembic that awakens them.

Willie Bea McDonald, one of the firm’s founders, recently showed us the two cabins, both of which are located on Pine Cove Road in Hague.

(And if you can think of a more perfect address for an old fashioned cottage on a northern lake, let us know.)

The first is a kit built, two-bedroom log cabin, constructed in 1972, with a stone fireplace, knotty pine paneling and a screened porch.

The listed price is $339,000. The cabin is on the market because it has passed to a second generation who live too far away to make use of it, said McDonald.

It comes with rights to a private beach shared by five other families. The view is of Anthony’s Nose, an unspoiled eastern shore and a section of the lake relatively free of boat traffic, at least compared with Bolton Bay or the south basin.

“Hague lies somewhere between Bolton Landing and Gull Bay or Glenburnie, literally and figuratively,” said McDonald. “It appeals to people who want privacy, who don’t want the busyness of Bolton Landing, but who also want proximity to some amenities, like markets and restaurants.”

The cabin was constructed for year-round use and could be enlarged if desired, said McDonald.

The second cabin, farther down Pine Cove Road, has its own lake frontage, a dock and a mooring. Its owners are offering it for $770,000.

The cabin is sided with cedar shingles and it too has a stone fireplace and a screened porch, this one overlooking the lawn and a private lake view.

Both cabins could be served by a new municipal sewer system, said McDonald.

One of the advantages shared by both cabins is their proximity to Silver Bay, the hamlet of Hague and the Northern Lake George Yacht Club.

The Silver Bay YMCA offers family memberships that offer access to its recreational activities and facilities.

The Northern Lake George Yacht Club is known for its sailing programs and is currently accepting applications for memberships.

Hague is home to a gourmet market, an art gallery a home furnishings store and two of the best restaurants on Lake George: the Firehouse and the Uptown.

Both restaurants were featured last summer in an article in The New York Times about Silver Bay and Hague that argued, persuasively, that “deep within this corner of the Adirondacks, a kind of timelessness can still be found.”

“We watch sailboats zipping to and fro, swimmers lazily splashing at the beach. We walk through forests thick with birch, oak, hickory, pine,” wrote Bonnie Tsu, whose husband’s grandparents initiated a family tradition of summers at Silver Bay.

Cabins such as these two are becoming increasingly rare. Once they leave a family, they are likely to be razed and replaced with larger and grander houses, not always equally well suited to the landscape or to the traditional character of Lake George. Here’s a chance to enjoy one or perhaps two of them before they disappear altogether.

For more information, contact Willie Bea McDonald at McDonald Real Estate Professionals, Bolton Landing, at (518) 644-2015.