{"id":5374700,"date":"2023-05-30T11:41:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T11:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/?p=5374700"},"modified":"2023-05-30T11:41:55","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T11:41:55","slug":"the-original-vacation-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"The Original Vacation Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Lake George, N.Y. makes an unusual claim to fame: it touts itself as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitlakegeorge.com\/original-vacation\/\">America&#8217;s original vacation spot<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The basis of that claim? In 1869 a Boston preacher named William H.H. Murray published his popular book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Adventures-Wilderness-Camp-Life-Adirondacks-Historical\/dp\/1418132675\">Adventures in the Wilderness, or Camp-Life in the Adirondacks<\/a>, which was a mix of fiction and travel brochure touting the wonders of outdoor life in Lake George. And readers started coming there for getaways, inspired by the idea that the wilds of nature were to be enjoyed rather than merely navigated or avoided.  According to an article in Smithsonian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/travel\/where-was-the-birthplace-of-the-american-vacation-5520155\/\">about Lake George<\/a>, the people who ventured there that first summer didn&#8217;t enjoy it much because they were often unprepared for outdoor life and the weather that year was unusually cold and rainy. (Sounds like a classic vacation). But in subsequent years the weather was better and Lake George flourished as a tourist destination.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That history may help explain why LIFE photographer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/photographer-spotlight-nina-leen\/\">Nina Leen<\/a> went to Lake George in 1941 to photograph a young couple enjoying a weekend in nature. The pictures are indeed stunning, particularly the one titled &#8220;Private Island,&#8221; which shows the couple sitting together on a small outcropping in the middle of a placid lake. The photo makes Lake George look like a kind of Eden. (It should be noted that the same spot looks more ordinary in other photos taken by Leen\u2014 the rock the couple is sitting on is just a few steps from the shore\u2014but as every amateur photographer knows, when crafting that perfect vacation photo, angles are everything). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LIFE never ran Leen&#8217;s story on Lake George\u2014one imagines it might have been bumped for news about the gathering storm that was World War II. So we don&#8217;t know much about the young man and woman in the photos: their ages, occupations, marital status, or where they arrived from. That&#8217;s fine. Their anonymity allows them become a symbolic Adam and Eve, making their way back for a couple days in paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23ded4616\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374711 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A young couple vacationing at Lake George, New York.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203230\/116173072-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A young couple vacationing at Lake George, New York.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d237fd4610\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374705 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A young couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203159\/116173007-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A young couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d2366d460f\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374704 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203154\/116173006-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d24a6d461b\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374701 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A young couple enjoyed a Lake George vacation in a Nina Leen photo entitled &quot;Private Island,&quot; 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203023\/00986807-969x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A young couple enjoyed a Lake George vacation in a Nina Leen photo entitled &#8220;Private Island,&#8221; 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646f7b59b5651\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374736 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/25151520\/116173005-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646f7bbeb5652\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374735 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/25151507\/116173073-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646f7bcab5653\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374734 desc=\"\" caption=\"116173135\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/25151454\/116173135-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">116173135<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23ead4617\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374712 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203235\/116173142-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d2299d460e\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374703 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203150\/116173004-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23f7d4618\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374713 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203240\/116173176-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d2404d4619\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374714 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203245\/116173177-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d2398d4611\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374706 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203204\/116173014-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23a6d4612\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374707 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203209\/116173019-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23b4d4613\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374708 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203214\/116173045-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d2410d461a\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374715 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203250\/116173180-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23d0d4615\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374710 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203224\/116173064-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_646d23c0d4614\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5374709 desc=\"\" caption=\"Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203220\/116173061-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">A couple vacationing at Lake George, New York, 1941.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Nina Leen\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lake George, N.Y. makes an unusual claim to fame: it touts itself as the America&#8217;s original vacation spot. The basis of that claim? In 1869 a Boston preacher named William H.H. Murray published his popular book Adventures in the Wilderness, or Camp-Life in the Adirondacks, which was a mix of fiction and travel brochure touting &#8230; <a title=\"The Original Vacation Spot\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5374701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27],"tags":[2161,1228],"class_list":["post-5374700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-nature","tag-lake-george","tag-nina-leen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Original Vacation Spot - LIFE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Original Vacation Spot - LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lake George, N.Y. makes an unusual claim to fame: it touts itself as the America&#8217;s original vacation spot. The basis of that claim? In 1869 a Boston preacher named William H.H. Murray published his popular book Adventures in the Wilderness, or Camp-Life in the Adirondacks, which was a mix of fiction and travel brochure touting ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-30T11:41:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-30T11:41:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203023\/00986807-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Syken\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Syken\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bill Syken\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#\/schema\/person\/883131cdd6c2606be8d59b3282b8c5a6\"},\"headline\":\"The Original Vacation Spot\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-30T11:41:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-30T11:41:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\"},\"wordCount\":342,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/23203023\/00986807-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lake George\",\"Nina Leen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Nature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/lifestyle\/the-original-vacation-spot\/\",\"name\":\"The Original Vacation Spot - 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The basis of that claim? In 1869 a Boston preacher named William H.H. Murray published his popular book Adventures in the Wilderness, or Camp-Life in the Adirondacks, which was a mix of fiction and travel brochure touting ... 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