Paul Smiths, NY

Paul Smiths is a tiny, quiet hamlet in the northern Adirondacks, roughly 12 miles northwest of Saranac Lake. Set between Lower Saint Regis Lake and Osgood Pond, the community is home to a few hundred year-round residents alongside the students and faculty at Paul Smith’s College. Route 86 connects the hamlet directly to Saranac Lake, making it an easy 15-minute drive for groceries, dining, and healthcare, while Route 30 heads north toward Malone and the Canadian border.

The hamlet has deep roots in early Adirondack tourism, starting in 1859 when Apollos "Paul" Smith opened one of the area's first wilderness resorts. After the original hotel burned down in 1930, the estate funded the creation of Paul Smith’s College, which opened its doors in the 1940s to teach forestry, environmental science, and hospitality. Nearby White Pine Camp on Osgood Pond adds to that heritage, best known for serving as President Calvin Coolidge's summer White House in 1926. That rustic Adirondack Great Camp style and preservation-focused mindset still define the hamlet's atmosphere.

Today, Paul Smith’s College serves as the primary hub for the area. The campus covers more than 14,000 acres of working forest and shoreline, featuring a student-run sawmill, a lakeside setting, and the popular VIC (Visitor Interpretive Center), which offers year-round trails for hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. For anyone considering a move here, Paul Smiths provides a peaceful, woods-first lifestyle with immediate access to pristine paddling waters and a tight-knit campus community.