Pioneer Lodge - Historic Saranac Lake

Pioneer Lodge/The BelvedereBelvedere Restaurant advertisement.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, February 8, 1958 Address: 102 Bloomingdale Avenue

Old Address: 57 Bloomingdale Avenue

Other names: Pioneer Lodge (1893), Merrill Cottage (1928), Bellair Cottage (1929), Zellaire Cottage (1930), Bushey Cottage (1932), Belvedere Restaurant

Year built: before 1892

Pioneer Lodge was first mentioned in area newspapers in 1892. Although it burned "to the ground" in 1893, it was rebuilt starting the same year. Its final mention is in 1912.

Interior of the Pioneer Lodge (undated)
Courtesy of Sean DobbinsIt seems to have served as a sanatorium under different owners between 1928 and 1932.

It first appears in the village telephone directory in 1936.

It was owned and operated by the Cavallo family from the 1930s until it sold in 2022 to new owners who will continue to operate it as the Belvedere.

A 1948 liquor license notice was granted to Joseph Cavallo and Vincent Pelletier. Joseph's father, Jerry Cavallo, opened the Belvedere in 1933, and ran it until 1948.

The Malone Gazette, November 17, 1893

Losses by Fire

Friday the boarding cottage at Saranac Lake known as "Pioneer Lodge," was totally destroyed by fire. It was owned by M. C. & J. P. Meagher, and was insured with O'Neil & Hale for $7,000, including furnishings, most of which were saved. The fire caught in the kitchen annex near the chimney, and although great efforts were made to save the building they were unsuccessful. It was a handsome two-story wooden building.

Plattsburgh Sentinel, December 22, 1893

—The Pioneer Lodge, burned in November, is being replaced by a new one on higher ground than the old site, and therefore a preferable situation. The new building is already well along, and the work is progressing- finely.

Malone Palladium, March 7, 1907

A Saranac Lake correspondent says "While holding a horse attached to a cutter in front of the Pioneer Lodge, on Saturday afternoon of last week, Patrick O'Neil, a contractor formerly of Mineville, N. Y. was painfully injured. The animal, which belonged to M. C. Meagher became frightened at a passing locomotive, jumped and pitched Mr. O'Neil against a hydrant, breaking his left limb in two places. He was carried to the Lodge where Dr. Wicker was summoned and attended to his injuries. The horse was badly cut up and injured internally. It was not necessary to kill it however."

Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 15, 1926An advertisement in a January 1925 Enterprise, read "Mrs. Merrill, 57 Bloomingdale Avenue. Single meals 50c. Weekly board $8.00. Room and board from $11.00 to $16.00. Breakfast from 6:00 a.m. to 9 a.m. Supper 6:15 p.m. Dinner 12:15 except Sundays, 1:15. Phone 119-W-2." ¹

August 16, 2003

You Know What…?
By Howard Riley

[…]

Big tips at the bell

Delivering [newspapers] to the Belvedere restaurant was always special. We were allowed to carry an extra paper and some guy at the bar would usually buy it and give you a big tip. Mr. Cavallo, Joe's father and Jerry's grandfather, used to sit at a table in the right hand window with Steve Carpenter playing cards. They could watch the passing parade on Bloomingdale Avenue which was a very busy place.

The McGoverns and the Nesbitts lived next door, then the Hushion sisters, the Duffys, the Sarbanes, Elise Baker, Jesse Robare and the Henry Larom family.

Saranac Lake Police Blotter, Adirondack Room, Saranac Lake Free Library

April 14, 1930, 7 p.m. – There seems to some trouble between Mrs. Halsburg making a nuisance of herself at No. 57 Bloomingdale Ave. where her husband is a patient being kept by the county. Dr. Packard seems to think that she has a right to be with her husband. The county officials do not want her around after 9:30 p.m. as she is annoying to the nurses, fighting with her husband and disturbing the other patients. — Officer Jones

Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 26, 2022

Saranac Lake's Belvedere changes hands

Photo caption: The new owners of the Belvedere, Chrissie Wais and John Levy, are seen here at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the business on July 20.

The article contains a brief history of the business, here.

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