Lake Placid Map Art

Lake Placid is a village in Essex County, New York, high in the Adirondack Mountains, with 2,205 people at the 2020 census. The world knows it as the host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. It has also hosted the World University Games in 1972 and 2023 and the 2000 Goodwill Winter Games. The village was founded in the early 1800s for iron mining. In 1845 the abolitionist Gerrit Smith bought land in North Elba and granted large tracts to formerly enslaved people, and John Brown came to buy a farm there. That farm, where Brown asked to be buried, is now the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. In the late 19th century, as leisure time grew, visitors discovered Lake Placid. Despite its name, the village sits mostly on Mirror Lake, with the larger Lake Placid just beyond.