The Santanoni Preserve

The Santanoni Preserve is the largest tract of land donated to the Adirondack Preserve in the last decade. The 12,500 acre preserve is home to the Santanoni Lodge built from 1892-93, owned at that time by Robert C. Pruyn, a prominent Albany banker and businessman. "As one of the earliest examples of the Adirondack Great Camps, Camp Santanoni was regarded at the time of its completion as the grandest of all such Adirondack Camps to date" (Adirondack Architectural Heritage). Great Camp Santanoni, now owned by New York State and incorporated into the State Forest Preserve, is open to the public. In the summer, visitors can walk or bike 4.7 miles into the camp or take advantage of a beautiful, flat 10-mile ski trip. Santanoni is located on route 28N between the Town Hall and Aunt Polly's Bed and Breakfast.

Newcomb VIC (Visitors Interpretive Center)

Hike the High Peaks

Newcomb contains the southern access to the High Peaks Region and has the largest number of trailheads in the Adirondacks. Trailheads to Marcy, Algonquin and Colden peaks are accessible from the Upper Works Trailhead near Tahawus.

Lake Harris Campground

The NYS owned Lake Harris Campground offers visitors a 90-unit campground with public beach and picnic area is located on the northeast shore of Lake Harris.

The Town of Newcomb Town Beach and Boat Launch

The town beach is 17 acres with 3500 feet of frontage on Lake Harris, located 1/10 of a mile off route 28N. Amenities include: a sand beach with a dock, life guard stations, a basketball court, a children's play area, picnic tables with barbecues, an open pavilion with tables and barbecue pit, change houses and restrooms and a boat launching ramp. A nature/fitness trail is also accessible from the Town Beach.

Hudson River Information Center

Located off route 28N, just past the Medical Center at the Overlook Monument, the Hudson River Information Center is a small interpretive center about the history of lumbering in the Town of Newcomb. Picnic tables offer an opportunity to enjoy peaceful scenic views of the Hudson River and Adirondack High Peaks. It is also a great place to begin a scenic kayak trip of the Hudson River. Don't forget to sign in at the register, you will be amazed at the number of people from around the world that have visited this site.

Newcomb Overlook

You won't be able to miss this if you drive or bike past it. It offers one of the most spectacular views in the region. Take a picnic and enjoy a few hours. There are barbecues and picnic tables there or take a big blanket and relax on the gently sloping lawn that is part of the Overlook area (rest rooms are located here as well).

Goodnow Mountain

Goodnow Mountain is a relatively small Adirondack peak, only 2,685 feet tall. But at its summit is a 60-foot fire tower that provides some of the best views in the Adirondacks for the least amount of effort. It’s enclosed, too, affording welcome protection from wind and rain for damp hikers.

The well-marked two-mile trail is not for the frail or lazy, but a reasonably fit person can go up and down in about two hours. Most will linger, though at the summit.

Goodnow is part of the 15,000-acre Huntington Wildlife Forest maintained by SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. College and town maintain the trail and tower, and both may be the best-kept in the Adirondacks. The trail has solid boardwalks and bridges across streams and boggy areas, and there are halved-log benches above steeper climbs.

SUNY ESF students researched, wrote and illustrated interpretive trail guides - one for summer, one for winter - available at the trailhead register or just up Route 28N at the Visitor Interpretive Center.

Atop the fire tower and at the observer’s cabin at its base, you get more history than on any other Adirondack mountain. The names of the men who kept the vigil there, from the first (Bill Bailey, 1922-29) to the last (Mike Yandon, 1978-79), are inscribed on a fire observer’s map in the tower.

The cabin, though padlocked, is partially restored: a pack basket and wool shirt hang from pegs inside. Fire watcher George Shaughnessy (1930-34) brought his new bride there for a honeymoon in 1931. Airplanes put the tower out of business in 1980.

To the north, Rich Lake spreads out like an ink blot at the base of the mountain; the Seward and Santanoni ranges, and High Peaks Algonquin, Colden and Marcy, rise beyond it.

On a rainy day, thick cottony clouds sail like islands through the mountains, obscuring peaks. Wind thuds against the immovable tower, rain pelts the glass, and great shreds of gray mist drift up from the lakes and valleys like smoke from fires long dead.

Fires of the early 1900s burned a million acres of trees and led state conservationists to erect towers to protect the Adirondacks for the future. Under comments in the trail egister one rainy day, a handful of hikers had scrawled: “Got wet, saw a rainbow.” “Beautiful rainbow!” “Saw two rainbows from tower: Wonderful!”

Syracuse Herald