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When Seventh Lake House builder Duane Norton died, the Hotel was sold to Frank Williams in 1903 for $7,000, and it reverted soon after to his brother Charles Williams, a teamster from the building of Seward Webb’s Adirondack railroad in 1892 who operated Lake View Lodge on Big Moose Lake. He made extensive repairs and improvements to the building and grounds. His son Fred took over management of it (and later inherited it) and benefitted from a new road going in that made the hotel more accessible and visible to travelers.
Later on management was assumed for a long time by Fred’s Uncle Frank’s brother-in-law Frank Breen, and during this time the lovely semi-circular lake-front dining room was built. Breen also is remembered as the first to use an electrical fence to keep deer out of his vegetable garden.
The last owner of the Seventh Lake House was Pitt Smith after World War II, a founder/leader of the Central Adirondack Association (CAA) and husband to Fred Williams’ daughter. First he managed the Hotel for a time, and later he bought it. He initiated the famous steak roasts and dinner cruises on Norm Bird’s Osprey on Seventh Lake comprising75 guests, staff and even an orchestra.
The Seventh Lake House burned in 1954 and the property was subdivided.
