Est. 1815 · Oldest Building in Lake Placid · Stagecoach Era · Melville Dewey Residence · Adirondack Heritage
The building at 3 Stage Coach Way has been standing since 1815, making it the oldest surviving structure in the village of Lake Placid. In its earliest incarnations it operated under the names Lyon's Inn and North Elba House, serving as a focal point for the small Adirondack community: a meeting place, a post office, and eventually a stop on the stagecoach route that connected isolated mountain villages before rail lines reached the region.
The inn's most notable documented resident was Melville Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System and founder of the Lake Placid Club, who lived at the property during part of his long association with the Lake Placid area. Dewey's presence gives the building an unusual dual identity: a rough-hewn Adirondack stagecoach stop that also hosted one of American librarianship's most influential figures.
The property has operated as a boutique bed and breakfast following restoration, with individually designed rooms that use reclaimed wood, antique furnishings, and period accents. It has been rated the top bed and breakfast in Lake Placid across major travel platforms and books heavily during fall and winter weekends. The building's original structure is substantially intact.
Sources
- https://www.lakeplacid.com/story/2023/haunted-lake-placid
- https://www.adktaste.com/blog/stage-coach-inn-lake-placid
- https://518bitesandsights.com/2018/10/30/6-haunted-places-to-visit-in-lake-placid-list/
Missing pillowcasesRepositioned pillowsCold spotsPhantom footstepsTelevision activating independentlyApparitions in photographsPhantom hummingUnexplained scents
The Stagecoach Inn's paranormal reputation is built on a sustained body of housekeeping and guest accounts rather than any single dramatic incident. The most common reports involve objects in rooms: pillowcases disappearing entirely, and the inn's 'Welcome Friends' decorative pillows found turned upside down or reversed when staff know no one has entered. The reports span multiple years and multiple staff members, lending them a degree of consistency unusual in haunted-hotel accounts.
Cold spots manifest throughout the building, particularly in rooms and corridors, without obvious explanation from the building's HVAC. Televisions activate independently. Phantom footsteps have been documented in areas where no other guests are present.
The more specific accounts involve apparitions. Guests have captured what appear to be figures in photographs taken inside the inn. Witnesses who have described feeling specific presences generally settle on four: a female entity, a male entity, what is perceived as a shy or young girl, and a figure consistent in demeanor with a 19th-century innkeeper—possibly a residual impression of someone who worked the property during its stagecoach era.
The overall characterization, across multiple independent accounts, is 'friendly Victorian mischief'—phenomena that register as mischievous or playful rather than threatening, consistent with a building occupied by generations of travelers and workers over more than two centuries.
Notable Entities
Female entityMale entityShy girl apparition19th-century innkeeper apparition
