The dining room, actually one building, is dotted with taxidermy. A bear stands guard in the corner. A deer stares, complacently, from its mount by the door. White Pine remains a peaceful place. Witte remarks with pride the especially large crop of Lady's-slippers that grace the trail alongside the sleeping cottages.
Swallows dart about when a visitor steps into a boathouse.
Full of odd, pre-modern angles, the windows of the boathouse transform the lake into instant, framed nature portraits. White Pine, much like Ampersand Mountain, where it takes a considerable climb before the whoosh of cars on Route 3 fades away, is a compromise between civilization and the great outdoors. It is a dead-on description of the Adirondack experience. It includes breakfast. Because the hotel is run by the non-profit Paul Smith's College, it does not charge sales tax for rooms, meals, beverages and banquets.