Fulton County -- Gateway to the Adirondacks

By Bob McNitt

Fulton County promotes itself as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks,” but don’t let that slogan fool you … for most folks visiting there, it’s a notch above. Snuggling up to Hamilton County to its north, I can guarantee you that without the sign denoting you’ve crossed the “blue line” border and entering the Park proper, you’d never know the difference.
This rather well-kept secret probably accounted for the large contingency of outdoor writers choosing Fulton County as the site for their 2010 NYS Outdoor Writers Association’s Annual safari get-together last month. Ground Zero for the event was the main shorefront cabin units at Pecks Lake Enterprise Inc, off NYS Rte. 29A near Gloversville. Pecks Lake is only surpassed in size by the huge Great Sacandaga Lake to its east, but since it’s privately owned, it’s far more peaceful. I’ve known the Peck family for many years, and the effort they put forth to make visitors to their lake feel welcome and enjoy themselves is remarkable.
The lake is well stocked with an assortment of game and pan fish, including bass, northern pike, walleye and rainbow trout. Crappie, pickerel and bullhead are also popular catches. Anglers have the option of either launching their own boat at the marina or renting one, complete with outboard motor. While fishing and relaxing are two of the many attractions in Fulton County, additionally there’s the Great Sacandaga, Caroga Lake, West Canada Lake, plus numerous smaller ponds and lakes and abundant streams.
The area of Johnstown and Gloversville were once the hub of the commercial tannery business in the East, known as the “Glove and Leather Capital” of the world, hence the latter’s name. Fulton County was born in 1838 when split off from Montgomery County shortly after the Montgomery county seat was moved to Fonda. The creation of Fulton County was engineered by Johnstown lawyer Daniel Cady, whose wife was a cousin of Robert Fulton. An excellent explanatory article on how tanning and the glove industry developed and thrived in Fulton County can be found at http://www.albany.edu/history/glovers/.
But enough of the history lesson, for it’s all the great outdoor – and indoor – attractions the area contains that is remarkable, given the rather secretive nature of some of them. During the safari our writers caught walleye, bass, trout, crappie, pickerel and bullhead from Pecks, while others opted to fish and caught walleye from Great Sacandaga. Some opted to sample the excellent wild turkey hunting the area hosts and two nice gobblers were taken. Other than the occasional honking of Canada geese or cries of loons on Pecks Lake, we may have well been in the deep wilderness far to the north.
Did I mention food and entertainment? Our initial night saw a belt-stretching buffet at Vrooman’s Hotel in Caroga Lake. Breakfasts were served up in abundant style at the Red Store restaurant, also in Caroga. Non-eating outings included an impressive tour of the Wildlife Sports & Educational Museum in Vail Mills, a must stop for everyone visiting the area. The huge replicated display of mounted record book bucks and fish are alone worth the stop. If you hunt, fish, trap or just enjoy the outdoors, make a point to see this. For those more urban minded, the area has an abundance of stores, restaurants, outlets and museums. Most of these can readily be located in the downtown areas or the outskirts on the major highways leading in and out.
The cabins we stayed in were excellent examples of the classic north woods camps, but with large porches and running water. Flowering apple trees that dotted the shoreline lawns gave a wonderful fragrance – especially when mixed with the more traditional scent of the nearby evergreens -- whenever we stepped outside. A large awning was erected that housed our final night’s event – a wild boar roast, sponsored by ADK Oudoorsman Show, Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry, ADK Realty, The Fly Shack, and Frank’s Gun Shop. The wild boar had a local connection as it was donated by Wild West Trophy Hunts in West Edmeston. With our group, there wasn’t much pork left by evening’s end.
Perhaps the real allure of this Fulton County region is you basically get nearly all the benefits of the Adirondack Park tourist attractions without the tourism prices. And in today’s economy, that will prove to be a real bargain. For more information visit http://fultoncountyny.org/ or http://www.peckslake.com/. Or write to: Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce, 2 North Main St., Gloversville NY 12078. Or Peck’s Lake Ent. Inc., 180 Peck Lake Rd., Gloversville, NY 12078.