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Schroon is a town in the Adirondack Park, in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,654 at the 2010 census. The largest community in town is the hamlet of Schroon Lake, located at the northern end of the lake of the same name. The Town of Schroon is in the southern part of Essex County and is north of Albany. The town contains two lakes: the northern two-thirds of Schroon Lake, and Paradox Lake. The two lakes are connected by the Schroon River, a southward-flowing tributary of the Hudson River. [edit] History
The Town of Schroon was first settled by Europeans in 1804 from part of the Town of Crown Point, north of the current Schroon Lake hamlet, as part of France's colonial holdings south of Quebec. The town was partitioned to form the newer Town of Minerva in 1817. In 1840, part of Schroon was returned to Crown Point. As with other towns of Essex County, the early economy was heavily involved in lumber production. The origination of the name "Schroon" is not precisely known. Some believe it to be derived from a Native American word for "large lake". Others believe it devolved from French soldiers who inhabited the region during the French & Indian Wars. The soldiers were enamored with Madame Scarron (a popular paramour of French King Louis XIV and prior to that the wife of noted French poet/playwright Paul Scarron). In the late 1800s the Village of Schroon became a destination for wealthy families from the NY Metropolitan area. Their trip started in New York City by rail to the town of Riverside, then a stagecoach to Pottersville, and finally aboard a steamer that traveled up the lake to the Village. By 1915, after the introduction of automobiles, people from the cities were flocking to the Schroon Lake region. Capitalizing on this booming tourist trade, grand resorts such as Taylor's on Schroon (later Scaroon Manor), the Leland House and the Brown Swan – along with a number of Adirondack Style Lodges – made Schroon Lake a premier summer vacation spot. Prior to the construction of the Adirondack Northway (Interstate 87), US Route 9 was the major north–south highway between Albany and Montreal, which made Schroon Lake a convenient stopping point for travelers to purchase gas, lodging, and meals. The Scaroon Manor resort, which closed in 1962, was the site for the 1957 filming of the Warner Brothers movie Marjorie Morningstar, which starred Gene Kelly, Natalie Wood. Carolyn Jones and Ed Wynn. Also featured in the film was Camp Red Wing (though not mentioned by name) on the east side of the lake, from which Wood and Jones depart by canoe at night for their escape to the musical South Winds (Scaroon Manor). Open to the public for many years, the old Scaroon Manor site is now a NY State Campground. The "Scaroons" is/are mentioned twice in The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, as a place seen by Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo), Chingachgook and Uncas after they had departed Horicon (the name used by Cooper for Lake George) while traveling northward chasing Magua and his two captives, Cora and Alice Munro. It is unclear from the context in the book whether Cooper is referring to the lake or a chain of mountains, the latter being a more likely interpretation. [edit] Research Tips[edit] External Links
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