Fulton County promotes itself as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks,” but don’t let that slogan fool you … for most folks visiting there, it’s a notch above. Snuggling up to Hamilton County to its north, I can guarantee you that without the sign denoting you’ve crossed the “blue line” border and entering the Park proper, you’d never know the difference.
This rather well-kept secret probably accounted for the large contingency of outdoor writers choosing Fulton County as the site for their 2010 NYS Outdoor Writers Association’s Annual safari get-together last month. Ground Zero for the event was the main shorefront cabin units at Pecks Lake Enterprise Inc, off NYS Rte. 29A near Gloversville. Pecks Lake is only surpassed in size by the huge Great Sacandaga Lake to its east, but since it’s privately owned, it’s far more peaceful. I’ve known the Peck family for many years, and the effort they put forth to make visitors to their lake feel welcome and enjoy themselves is remarkable.
The lake is well stocked with an assortment of game and pan fish, including bass, northern pike, walleye and rainbow trout. Crappie, pickerel and bullhead are also popular catches. Anglers have the option of either launching their own boat at the marina or renting one, complete with outboard motor. While fishing and relaxing are two of the many attractions in Fulton County, additionally there’s the Great Sacandaga, Caroga Lake, West Canada Lake, plus numerous smaller ponds and lakes and abundant streams.
The area of Johnstown and Gloversville were once the hub of the commercial tannery business in the East, known as the “Glove and Leather Capital” of the world, hence the latter’s name. Fulton County was born in 1838 when split off from Montgomery County shortly after the Montgomery county seat was moved to Fonda. The creation of Fulton County was engineered by Johnstown lawyer Daniel Cady, whose wife was a cousin of Robert Fulton. An excellent explanatory article on how tanning and the glove industry developed and thrived in Fulton County can be found at http://www.albany.edu/history/glovers/.
But enough of the history lesson, for it’s all the great outdoor – and indoor – attractions the area contains that is remarkable, given the rather secretive nature of some of them. During the safari our writers caught walleye, bass, trout, crappie, pickerel and bullhead from Pecks, while others opted to fish and caught walleye from Great Sacandaga. Some opted to sample the excellent wild turkey hunting the area hosts and two nice gobblers were taken. Other than the occasional honking of Canada geese or cries of loons on Pecks Lake, we may have well been in the deep wilderness far to the north.
