Celebrating 140 Years of Family and Fate

When what would become the Lake Clear Lodge & Resort was built in 1886, the Adirondacks itself had not been incorporated. Grover Cleveland, who stayed in Lake Clear, was President of the United States, David Bennet Hill was Governor of New York, and the Adirondack Park had not yet been formed. To reach the area, you had to take a stagecoach or a sleigh, since the railroad did not yet go this far. Lake Clear was not even Lake Clear—it was known as Otisville.

The arrival of the railroad changed everything. Otisville became Lake Clear Junction, a bustling site known as the “Great Connector,” home to a network of trails, rails, and roads alongside a myriad of waterway portages through what would eventually be known as the St. Regis Wilderness region.  It was the commerce center between the Saranac and St. Regis chain of lakes and included the stays of people like Cleveland and Albert Einstein. It would eventually boast a “lighted downtown,” and the United States first electric rail line built by Paul Smith. The pioneering days were giving way to the era of the Cure Cottages, the Great Camps and Grand Hotels.

Family Origins

The original architecture of the Lodge was built by Millard and Anna Otis, the great aunt and uncle of Cathy Hohmeyer, the current co-owner and Executive Chef. It began as a stagecoach in, post office, and trading post. In the 1920s, it operated as a Prohibition-era speakeasy.

Eventually, Cathy’s great aunt and uncle sold the business to the Jarvis family, believed to be a distant relative, who operated it for several decades as an inn, catering to the constant flow of travelers seeking adventure, health, beauty, or all three. As the primary mode of transportation moved from rail to cars, the flow ebbed and eventually changed altogether when the rail station closed.  

When Ernest Sr. and Elsbeth Hohmeyer arrived in America from Germany, they came with three children and the American Dream. After saving for several years, they purchased the Lodge property from the Jarvis family and reopened it as a lodge and restaurant. In 1976, they hired a high school student named Cathy Fisher to do housekeeping for them.

You might say the rest is history, but that would have required Ernest and Cathy to want anything to do with each other at the time. A year apart, they both graduated from Saranac Lake High School and went off to college. Both eventually pursued additional education. Ernest eventually became the founding director of the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation, and Cathy had an occupational therapy position in Washington DC. 

A New Generation

However, family and fate pull invisible strings. When Ernest Sr. and Elsbeth prepared to sell the property, Ernest Jr. came home to help. Having returned home, Cathy—who had no idea of her own family connection at the time—refused to let this family run business be potentially bought by a private home owner or closed down. They made an agreement that Elsbeth would teach Cathy her Old World cooking techniques while continuing to live on the property, and Ernest Jr. said he would stick around to help with the transition.

He never left. Drawn—and, at times, pulled together in mysterious ways, Ernest and Cathy married in 1992. In 1994, while constructing an addition to the original building, they found old postmaster’s notes from the 1800s in the attic. Realizing that they were signed by someone with Cathy’s mother’s maiden name, they did some genealogy work and realized that it had been Cathy’s family that had built the original building. As Ernest has since said, it was either fate or a bad Stephen King novel.

History Lives On Today

Today, the property echoes its history, but also the connection of family. The iconic main building now boasts not only a restaurant, but a beer and wine cellar and a speakeasy. It honors the original beams alongside the wood milled on the property that became the cellar by Ernest’s own hands. While some of the buildings on the now 25 acres of property, such as the Guesthouse, existed previously, they were extensively redone by everyone from Elsbeth to school friends who became contractors, electricians, plumbers, and other helping hands. Other buildings on the property, along with the Lakeview Great Camp Center, were constructed from the wood that stood there as trees by a team that included Cathy’s father, family friends, Ernest, Cathy, and their three children, Gretchen, Dieter, and Yurgen. 

In a world that changes quickly, the Lake Clear Lodge continues to offer something timeless: authentic Adirondack hospitality rooted in family, history, food, and a lasting sense of place. Restaurant goers today begin their experience in the downstairs Speakeasy, where Ernest Jr. greets them just as his father once did. Together, he and Cathy have crafted a drink and food menu that honors the whole 140 years of history while infusing their own take on local, holistic options. Cathy works alongside her son Dieter in the kitchen, passing on the recipes, techniques, and stories taught to her not only by Elsbeth but also her own family. Yet, we are also excited to look towards the future. When you pick up the phone to give the secret Speakeasy password, it might be answered by daughter Gretchen, working on her PhD in education in Massachusetts. An online inquiry or social media interaction might be answered by son Yurgen, working as an aerospace engineer in California. As we celebrate 140 years, we also celebrate the ways the threads of family and fate continue to grow and change, and we invite you and your family to celebrate with us. To find out more about the history of the Lodge, its offerings, and special celebrations, please visit www.lakeclearlodge.com or email info@lakeclearlodge.com.