Hulett's Landing

I was so excited to visit the hamlet of Hulett's Landing on the northeast side of Lake George while on our history trip in May 2013.  It's a beautiful area on the shore of the lake but away from the more tourist-y areas on the other side of the lake.

My 3rd Great Grandfather William Burgess Sr.'s brother, John C. Burgess and his family were early settlers of this area.

early tintype of John C. Burgess

 John C. Burgess was an early settler in the hamlet of Hulett's Landing. It is located on the east side of Lake George in Dresden township, Washington County, New York about 14 miles to the southwest of Putnam where his John C. lived in his youth. It is a heavily wooded, mountainous area and the lake was the main transportation at that time. There are many islands in Lake George including Burgess Island and Little Burgess Island both near Hulett's Landing. These islands are part of a state park and have campsites on them.

John C.'s son, Hiram was the township enumerator for the 1865 New York state census. He wrote the following about the area at that time:

Pleiades gravemarker

"This town is a very rough mountainous one, poor for farming, poor for anything, with neither town store or post office and we have to go from three to eleven miles to get our mail matter..."

John C. Burgess's first wife was Pleiades Brewster born 14 October 1788 in Becket, Windham, Connecticut. They were married in Pawlet, Rutland, Vermont on 15 October 1815. According to one source they had two daughters named Anna and Louisa. We do know that they had a son named John on 9 July 1821 just 20 days before Pleiades death on 29 July 1821 at age 32 most likely from childbirth complications.

John C.'s next married Achsah Christie Davis. She was listed as a widow so her maiden name is most likely Christie. There were Christie families in Washington county New York at that time. They had eight children.

John C.'s daughter, Emeline married Philander Hulett - the hamlet is named for the Hulett family who first settled there in 1804.

Andrew Burgess

John C.'s son Andrew Burgess was a photographer during the Civil War working with famous photographer, Matthew Brady. Andrew was even more famous for his inventions and patents for firearms. His folding shotgun was unique and is still sought after. The video below tells about the shotgun and  this link tells more about Andrew Burgess and his guns.

John C.'s other children also did well for themselves. Lewis was a merchant in Hague, a town on the west side of the lake. Others stayed in the area and some pioneered in the west. Lewis, Andrew and Emaline had winter homes in Florida. Emeline and Philander Hulett's home in St. Augustine is on the National Registor of historic places.

Clay Meadows Cemetery, Bolton township, Warren county, New York

On our trip in May 2013 we were able to find the Clay Meadows cemetery and I've decided to write about it today so others can find it more easily than we did.

We stayed in Bolton Landing on the banks of Lake George for two days. It was early May and not much was open yet including the historical museum. So I went to the library and asked about the Clay Meadows cemetery that I had learned about online. The librarian found the same webpage as I did but then made a few phone calls and found someone who told her that it was about five miles north of Bolton Landing in the northwest bay area of Lake George. And that the cemetery was near a state park and you needed to climb a hill at the end of the guard rail just past the creek.

We drove north that day but didn't have time to find it since we still needed to go south to the county offices/historical room before it closed. (Which we had a difficult time finding because of the town/village designations which we didn't understand.) But the next day after we checked out we headed north towards Ticonderoga and were able to find the cemetery on the way!

So to find it: drive north out of Bolton Landing on Lake Shore Drive/9N for a little over six miles to Northwest Bay Brook. We didn't find a state park but there is a turn-off road to a fishing access area right before the brook - we parked there.

Northwest Bay Brook (looking down from the road)

There is an unmarked trail up the hill just past the guard rail - see arrow

Cross over the brook and right at the end of the guard rail climb the unmarked trail up the hill.

Circle is around my husband climbing toward the cemetery

My husband climbed the hill and after a bit found the cemetery. It had been fenced and there was a sign. There aren't many grave markers left intact. Through the years time and vandals have taken their toll. The fence was added in the 1990s and in 2003 the cemetery was cleared of brush and overgrowth by members of the Bolton Historical Society and seniors from Bolton Central School.

And he found Burgesses!! Martin Burgess is a brother to my ancestor, William Burgess Sr. Martin Burgess and his family are interred in this cemetery. I think that Christian Burgess lived in this area until the family moved to Putnam Station area in the early 1800s.

Mike coming down the hill from the cemetery

At one point in time there was a community in the area called Clay Meadows. The residents had clear cut the trees to sell and so they could farm. In the 1930s a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located on the old Burgess farm in this area. The CCC boys replanted the area with thousands of 5-inch seedling pine trees. These trees are now 80+ feet tall and it is hard to find any sign of the early settlers other than this cemetery. Read more about this camp in the wonderful article found here: http://www.lakegeorgemirrormagazine.com/2013/04/24/the-civilian-conservation-corps-comes-to-bolton/

Map:

43.627126,-73.607154 - Clay Meadows Cemetery