Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 26, 1966 
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 11, 1966
Old Address: 110 Lake Flower Avenue
Other names:
Year built:
Other information: Don's grocery was operated by Don Witherwax and his wife. It was sold to a Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell in 1974.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 11, 1966
Floating Grocery Is First in State
Ry RIP ALLEN
There's none other like it in New York State, and it's so successful that there may be two roaming the waterways of Saranac Lake next year. Don Witherwax got the idea while sitting around with some neighbors at his camp on Miller Pond and then last winter, with the help of Sonny Moody, he put it together. Now it makes runs daily except Wednesday up the Saranac River, then to camps around Lower Saranac Lake, and already it has for many campers become a part of their daily life.
Don's Grocery which floats is unique extension of Don's Grocery Store which doesn't, it is itself a little grocery store weighing in at about six tons when fully stocked, and it takes to campers what they would rather not have to come in and get.
Most of Don's business is done on order, but he will stop wherever, he sees a moored boat or whenever somebody signals. He hopes to have special signal flags ready for campers to hang out from their docks next year. Don figures more than 400 camps are already involved in his operation.
He does a lot of open water business too, and sometimes you may see as many as six boats towing alongside like little fish with mother. For non-stationary customers, especially scout troops, Don says candy is one of his biggest items.
Probably a lot of folks would like to see beer on board, but except for beer to order this service will have to wait until the state writes an ABC law to cover this sort of operation.
Don is no newcomer to the Adirondacks, though it was only last fall that he, his wife Charlotte, and three kids moved up full-time from Stanfordville which is in Dutchess County and claims to be smaller than Vermontville. He bought the grocery store on Lake Flower Avenue this spring and at the once set out to make a bigger splash than you can make on Lake Flower Avenue alone.
While ice was still on the lake. he put out two 12 gauge steel pontoons and proceeded to fashion a 32 by 10 1/2 foot boat over them. It draws three feet.
For power the vessel uses a Homelite 55 capable of driving! it up to 2 mph, and inside Don has a generator to run the four iceboxes.
Building and fitting the craft together took from mid April to July 1.
Now with his wife watching the main store, Don heads out to the river mornings at about 10 o'clock after restocking, which he has to do daily since there is not enough room on board for reserves. He can't make it to all the camps on his route in a single day but staggers his service. Generally, he is back to dock at Moody's Marina by 5 p. m.
Don is pretty happy about the way his idea has been received and notes that some island campers have come to depend entirely on his boat for their groceries. He is looking forward to getting another boat onto the water so that he can make more frequent visits to everyone who wants the service.
