Lake George, 1860. Lake George, the largest in the Adirondacks region north east of New York state and initially called Lac du Sant Sacrament by the Jesuits, became a tourist attraction following the arrival of the railway in the 1850s. Apart from a beauty spot, it was a place imbued with historical associations and nostalgia, as it had been the scene of several military campaigns during the French and Indian War (1755-63) and during the American Revolution (1775-81).