Sandra: On a Lake George island history cruise with author Noah Chirnomas

By Sandra Hutchinson, Chronicle Vice-President

On Monday, July 27, I and about 15 other people took a cruise on the Lake George Association Floating Classroom through the Narrows of Lake George, with commentary by Noah Chirnomas, author of the recently released book The Islands of Lake George. Todd Earl captained the vessel.

As regular readers of The Chronicle know, we have been featuring weekly excerpts from Noah’s book.

Noah, age 22, a recent graduate of Muhlenberg College, has produced an impressive 326-page book detailing the history and lore of the 125 named islands on the lake, with numerous historical photographs.

Having spent countless hours among the islands, almost exclusively in the area of the lake known as the Narrows, I was thrilled to grab one of the quickly-sold out spots on the two-hour cruise. I learned too many interesting facts to include here, but I will mention a few. Whoever named the Hens and Chickens island group compared the islands to a mother hen with her chicks nearby.

I was stunned to learn that Fourteen Mile Island is not, in fact, 14 miles from the southern end of the lake. Noah said a British soldier during the American Revolution referred to the island in his journal as being 14 miles from Fort George . The name stuck. In fact, it is closer to 10 miles!

We also learned of the islands that derived their names from their shape, such as Fork and Gourd Islands.

Noah discusses his book and the islands of Lake George at various venues. Talks coming up include August 6 at 7 p.m. at Silver Bay YMCA; August 12 at 7 p.m. at the Chapman Museum, August 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Friends of Huletts Landing and August 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Hillview Free Library in Diamond Point. See The Chronicle’s Calendar of Events.

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