Speculator, New York
| Speculator | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
 Location in Hamilton County and the state of New York. |
|
| Coordinates: 43°31′37″N 74°21′47″W / 43.52694°N 74.36306°WCoordinates: 43°31′37″N 74°21′47″W / 43.52694°N 74.36306°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Hamilton |
| Town | Lake Pleasant |
| Incorporated | 1925 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Munro Collie Smith |
| Area | |
| • Total | 47.2 sq mi (122.3 km2) |
| • Land | 44.6 sq mi (115.6 km2) |
| • Water | 2.6 sq mi (6.7 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,739 ft (530 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 324 |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes | 12164, 12812 |
| Area code(s) | 518 |
| FIPS code | 36-70123 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0965973 |
Speculator is a village in Hamilton County, New York, United States. The population was 324 at the 2010 census. The village is named after a nearby Speculator Mountain.
Speculator is the only incorporated village within Hamilton County and is within the town of Lake Pleasant. The village included the northeastern end of a lake, also called Lake Pleasant. The local inhabitants sometimes refer to the village as the "Four Corners," referring to the intersection of NYS Route 8 and NYS Route 30 in the middle of the business district.
Speculator is within the Adirondack Park.
Archeological evidence of Native Americans has been found in arrowheads and spearheads near the local lake shores of the lake, Lake Pleasant. Many historians believe Speculator was the hunting and fishing grounds of both Mohawks and Algonquin tribes. These Native Americans would only travel to the Adirondack Mountains to hunt during the warm months and their villages were located in the Mohawk and Hudson Valley Region. There was a Mohawk, who named himself Captain Gill, who lived in a wigwam at the outlet of the lake, Lake Pleasant, during the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century. He had a wife named Molly and Molly had a daughter named Molly Jr., however Capt. Gill didn't claim the daughter as his own. Old Capt. Gill was a trail guide for the first settlers. He would show them places to hunt and fish. Capt. Gill was most famous for his story telling and would tell folklore of the Iroquois Nation, such as the Flying Head.
The small settlement at the foot of the lake, Lake Pleasant, was part of the Town of Lake Pleasant, New York, until 1864 when Joel Newton built a small store and hotel in the center of town and secured a post office with the name Newton's Corners. At that time Page Hill and Page Street were included in Newton's Corners. Joel Newton's structure burned in 1870, and in 1872 the Newton's corners post office was reopened in Satterlee's store. Henry Dunning built a hotel in 1882 where Newton's hotel had been and the post office had moved there, and 1896 the community received a new name, Speculator, after the mountain seen across the lake.
...
Wikipedia