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“We treasure that your privacy is absolutely critical,” Graham says. (Good luck getting staffers to spill the beans on celebrity sightings.)

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Lake Saranac : Point Well-Taken

How to live like a Rockefeller on just $1,250 a day . . . tarmac butler included.

By: Jeryl Brunner
August/Sept 07 , Page 60

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There are hotels. There are resorts. And then there’s the Point. Its mystique emerges long before you even step on the grounds. Picture this: Your wheels have just rolled to a stop at Adirondack Regional Airport in the country’s largest state park, near the New York-Canada border. The aircraft door opens, and Point general manager John Graham is at your side offering a genuinely warm hello. “We come to you,” Graham explains. “We want you to hit that gate and say, ‘OK, I’m here.’ ” The airport staff is equally friendly. The airfield recently won the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce’s first Business of the Year Award, and the staff insists on treating guests as their guests — carrying bags, occasionally bringing cookies to the crew — creating as seamless an experience as possible. There are no signs to the Point, which is tucked into the shores of Upper Saranac Lake. Guest privacy is guarded so fiercely that the resort is not open to the public, and tours are strictly forbidden. “We treasure that your privacy is absolutely critical,” Graham says. (Good luck getting staffers to spill the beans on celebrity sightings.)

After a 14-minute ride from the airport, you pull up to the sweeping entrance and head straight to your room — no registration, no forms, no credit-card exchange. Guests pay a flat fee beforehand, so there’s no need to calculate how much anything costs. “We don’t care how many Cokes you’re drinking — that has no relevance to serving you,” Graham told me when I booked my stay. “We try to create a bubble around you at the time of reservation and keep you in it until you go home.”

For me, that bubble involves bubbly. “Welcome to the Point,” Graham says as he opens a bottle of Taittinger and pours me a glass on the deck of the resort’s great hall. From my perch I gaze out over the sparkling expanse of Saranac Lake, the sun dancing on its surface. Green is everywhere: I’m surrounded by towering birch and cedar trees and blankets of fern. A piercing blue sky and ancient peaks frame the lushness. Although I’ve barely taken a sip, I’m already drunk on the place.

The Point was built in 1933 as a retreat for William Avery Rockefeller. The idea was to provide the family with a luxurious getaway in a rustic setting on the shores of a breathtaking natural 4,725-acre spring-fed lake. It was a time when the wealthy considered relaxation and rejuvenation in an unspoiled environment almost their birthright. (The Vanderbilts, Carnegies and Morgans all had their own Adirondack great camps.) These buildings, hewn from native-cut stone and knot-free Canadian pine logs, even now evince a sense of grandeur that effortlessly blends into the landscape.

In 1986, the Point was converted into a unique resort hideaway with just 11 guestrooms. Some rooms are in the main lodge, where Rockefeller had his master bedroom, library and children’s bedrooms; others are in separate houses across the property. Each one is different, but they all boast massive stone fireplaces, cathedral ceilings and deep memory-foam beds perfect for napping.

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