Long Lake Garage, Long Lake N.Y. 546

Long Lake Garage, Long Lake N.Y. 546

Scene of a gas station and a house on a paved street in a small town in the Adirondack mountains. This image is part of a series made by one of the three Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company photographers assigned to New England or upstate New York. The glass plates would be sent back to Belfast, Maine, and processed into postcards at the printing plant on High Street. The name of the proprietor, Earl Plumley, is noted on the front and on a sign sign on the building's roof. The well-kept mid-19th century house adjacent, also with a gas pump out front, is likely Plumley's home. Two Socony brand gas pumps stand in front of the garage, a motor oil pump nearer the building. A sign on the building's front corner points to the "Ladies Room". The privately owned gas and repair station's roof sign reads, in outsize letters: "Socony is 'Standard' / Motor Oil / Auto Livery / Earl Plumley Proprietor." An AAA sign indicates the establishment's association with the national organization. The town of Long Lake, located in the heart of the Adirondacks, was a scenic vacation destination since the 1860s when the first large hotel was built there. The location on a widening of the Raquette River offered boating and fishing opportunities with views of the High Peaks in the distance. With towns were few and far between, gas stations such as this one would have been sure of good summer business from vacationing motorists as well as local folk by the early 20th century.