During the 1930s, the party game known as the “scavenger hunt” took hold of American society. That entertaining competition was popularized by Elsa Maxwell (1883–1963), a famous gossip columnist.
Maxwell was known for organizing lavish parties for the elite that featured opulent scavenger hunts in which participants tried to acquire specific objects within an allotted time period to win the contest.
Though the country was in the Great Depression, these quests likewise became favored at school events, family fetes, and other social gatherings. You could say that the scavenger hunts of old have evolved into the recent geocaching craze.
Warren County, NY newspapers reported on a summer 1939 scavenger hunt organized by the Junior League of St. James Church in the Village of Lake George. The August 11, 1939 event was promoted as being principally for adults, though children could play, too.
A top prize of $5 in 1939, (valued at $117 in 2026) would go to the winner with a second-place award of $2.50 (valued at $58.50 today).
The Lake George-area scavenger hunt was to begin at 8 pm and last for 2½ hours. Players were encouraged to bring a flashlight, as they might need one.
The St. James Junior Guild of Lake George Village held earlier scavenger hunts. Yet the August 11, 1939 program was different.
The competition’s masterminds announced ahead of time that one of the objects to be procured would be “a piece of an old Lake George vessel,” possibly one already in the possession of a local person.
Prior to the festivity, news articles announced that acquiring an old boat’s timber would be “difficult,” but the artifact might also be suitable to be donated in the future to a Lake George museum.
Unfortunately, post-event newspapers did not report if such a relic was found by any scavenger hunter that evening.
Dr. Russell P. Bellico, a Hague, NY summer resident, historian, and author, commented on what vessel pieces might have been available back then.
Bellico said: “During the 1930s, a number of historic shipwrecks lay in the shallows of Lake George, accessible to souvenir hunters. In 1903 the hull of a sloop, built in 1756 and burned by French raiders in March 1757, was raised.
“Cut up for souvenirs, the rest was left on shore for years. Pieces of the British warship were held locally before some hull timbers were donated to museums or thrown away.
“Published reports also circulated of several colonial bateaux in the water near today’s Million Dollar Beach and elsewhere. In addition, sunken steamboats were well known including the John Jay, Minne-Ha-Ha, and wrecks at the [north] end of the lake in Ticonderoga.”
Bellico, author of several books including Sails and Steam in the Mountains—A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain, added:
“Unfortunately, long before historic preservation became popular, the dismemberment of these underwater cultural resources impeded the opportunity for future archaeologists to study them to better understand our maritime heritage.”
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
Illustrations, from above: Elsa Maxwell in 1935 (Library of Congress); A postcard from the 1920s of Lake George’s St. James Church; and a 1758 bateau-class shipwreck stem in the collection of Fort William Henry Museum. The piece was the forward-most hull structure of a bateau, a flat-bottomed vessel pointed at both bow and stern. These boats typically were 25–35 feet long and were used by the British on Lake George in the French & Indian War (credit: Joseph W. Zarzynski).
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