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Lake St. George
Lake St. George: Island Views and a Community’s Water Work
Discover
Lake St. George in Liberty has a public boating entrance off Route 3, shown separately from the camping and day-use areas on the state's 2026 park map. Use that distinction when arranging a lake outing: launch preparation belongs at the designated boat access, rather than beside people using the swimming shore. Confirm its present condition before towing a boat.
The open water has a substantial fisheries history. A state survey revised in 1989 describes numerous undeveloped islands in the main basin and a lake deep enough to support coldwater gamefish. It also recounts a change in the salmon fishery: a 1970s reputation for large fish gave way to declining size as fishing pressure increased in the following decade. Biologists tried different restrictions and evaluated catches to understand the results. Those historical rules are not a substitute for today's lawbook. The story is valuable because it describes a recreational resource that needed observation and adjustment, rather than one whose qualities could simply be taken for granted.
People continue that work beyond the fishing season. In its 2023 report, the Citizens' Association of Liberty Lakes described testing water, checking for invasive plants and teaching lake stewardship. Its inspection program at Lake St. George and Stevens Pond completed 1,493 boat checks that year, while volunteers also searched shorelines for unwanted plants. These are combined program figures, not a count for this lake alone, and they do not certify present conditions. They do show the effort behind an apparently effortless day afloat. Prepare clean equipment before arriving and cooperate with any inspection in place. The lake is part of a community project as well as a place to spend an afternoon.
An Abigail Curtis report published in 2020 gives the island landscape a more personal history. It profiles Linda Breslin's private camp, a former nineteenth-century harness shop that had been moved over lake ice in 1905. Breslin and her family first rented it, later bought it with friends, and kept its old stove, books and wind-up phonograph. The article also describes her long involvement in protecting Liberty's lakes. These details explain why an island building may carry an emotional weight that a passing paddler cannot see. They are a story about a private home, not an invitation to visit it. Enjoy the broader relationship between water, islands and wooded shore without treating someone's dock as a destination.
Tripadvisor contributor jacihart57, writing about a July 2017 family visit, particularly liked kayaking among the lake's islands. That short observation offers a different emphasis from the reviews focused on campsites or picnics. It suggests a reason to plan time on the water itself, while leaving the actual route to current conditions and your own experience. An island can serve as a visual reference without requiring a landing. For a photograph, try showing overlapping wooded shapes at different distances, so that the foreground water remains part of the composition. Keep the route manageable enough to return with energy for the launch, rather than spending everything on reaching one more island.
Fun facts
- A 1989 state survey recounts changes in the lake’s salmon fishery.
- A private island camp profiled in 2020 began as a harness shop moved over ice in 1905.
Before you go
- Use the designated Route 3 boating access and confirm its present condition.
- View islands from the water without assuming permission to land at private camps.
Visitor perspectives
- jacihart57 enjoyed kayaking among the islands during a July 2017 family visit. The review appeared on the state-park listing but specifically discussed the wider lake.
Capture
- Arrange overlapping wooded island shapes at different distances, leaving open water visible between them.
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Social
Lake St. George’s Route 3 boat access is marked separately from park camping and day-use areas.
The lake’s historical salmon story includes changing fishing pressure and management responses.
A community inspection program helps protect Liberty’s lakes from invasive plants.
A 2020 feature describes a private island camp moved over the ice more than a century earlier.
Private island camps carry personal histories as well as picturesque silhouettes.
One 2017 visitor particularly enjoyed kayaking among the islands.
An island can make a useful visual reference without becoming a landing destination.
Would you compose a lake photograph around the islands or the water between them? #Cre8Travel
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