Sallie was not the kind of person to let something like a little renovation stand in her way of building the Adirondack vacation home she envisioned. As a devoted “angler,” the house and land were the perfect location for her. The river was, literally, just steps away, brimming with landlocked salmon, trout, bass and other game fish. The hills and valleys were perfect for horseback riding. She named her newest vacation home “The Tavern,” for reasons that will soon become obvious. Sallie wasted no time on renovations and expansion. Hiring all local men, she began construction of the addition, which included a 40 x 60 dining area, two enormous living rooms and six bedrooms, each, save one, with its own full bath containing spacious soaking tub and shower, toilet, sink and bidet. The home went from a modest post-revolutionary war house to the popular country estate it is today. To ensure an adequate supply of water for a house of such proportions, Sallie accessed two reservoirs, tapping into the fresh springs in the area. Hiring the best engineers from Waterbury, Sallie shipped in nearly a mile of brass piping that ran from the two twenty square-foot reservoirs down to the Tavern below. The price tag for this plumbing was about $40,000, well over a million in today’s money. By the time construction was complete, the interior walls were made entirely of tongue and groove three quarter-inch western cedar. There were 65 windows, six wood-burning fireplaces and, of course, each bathroom had its own corkscrew permanently installed on the walls to ensure they didn’t “disappear.” After all, everyone needs a corkscrew in their bath, don’t they?
1926 house before renovation by Sallie Miller Smith.
and even a fake bookcase that opened to a narrow passageway. Local legend has it that there was a tunnel connecting the passageway to a guest house that she had built across the road. As the story goes, Sallie had it dug to escape any “revenuers” who might decide to call on her little “speakeasy.” Of course, there had been similar rumors and stories 80 years earlier about a tunnel that was used by abolitionists to help runaway slaves escape to points north. While there is no evidence of the existence of a tunnel for either purpose, the passageway was a handy little spot to duck into, should any uninvited guests show up at one of her many well-known parties. But,
while it was, indeed, Prohibition, and local law enforcement was kept busy with the many “rum-runners” travelling back and forth from the Canadian border, it is far more likely that Sallie built the passageway as an efficient way to reach the house’s extensive piping and wiring systems. Sallie’s planning didn’t end with huge fireplaces and “secret” passageways. Sallie wanted to make sure she was prepared for the impending Prohibition, and she purchased the entire contents of three liquor stores in Waterbury in anticipation of the new law. She kept her stock in her family’s mansion in Waterbury and had prodigious quantities of “spirits” sent to The Tavern at Schroon Lake.
Another centerpiece of the house was the famous “five Santa fireplace” located in the enormous dining room. Strategically placed above it was a small hand-carved wooden plaque, inscribed with the words, “Them That Has, Gits,” after a song that was released in 1929 and remained popular throughout the next two decades. The song talks about how the rich just get richer and the poor stay poor. Sallie was very fond of both the song and the saying, and she had it engraved on a plaque and hung above the hearth of the large fireplace. In addition to the spacious sleeping and living quarters, Sallie also had her own “lounge” area built below ground level. It contained another huge fireplace, along with solid wood shelving
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