Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
One might assume that Ranger Island was named for Robert Rogers and his Rangers, an independent group of soldiers who played an important role for the British during the French and Indian War.
However, the island was actually named after Judge Frederick E. Ranger, who was born in Queensbury in 1833 and served as justice of the peace of Glens Falls for years.
Around 1878, Ranger built a cottage named Summer Rest on a state-owned island in the Narrows of Lake George.
At that time, the island was known as Caldwell Island, but was renamed Ranger Island by 1879, after Ranger built a cottage there.
Ranger, along with his wife and their children, William, Caroline, Florence, and Gertrude, spent time on the island during the summers.
A Glens Falls Messenger article reported that “Justice Ranger is the happiest angler in these parts, and well may he might be, for he has the honor of capturing the largest lake trout of any resident of Glen’s Falls.”
Since the Ranger cottage was a squatter’s cabin, it was torn down by the state around 1917, along with other squatters’ cabins on state-owned islands.
Noah Chirnomas is the author of the book, Dome Island: Forever Wild on Lake George. His new book, The Islands of Lake George: Exploring the History and Mysteries, “which reveals the rich history of 124 islands on the lake,” will be published this June.
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