White House

President McKinley visited the Hotel Champlain so often that it was dubbed his "Summer White House." From July 29 to August 20 of 1897 and July 27 to August 25 of 1899, McKinley and his wife stayed at the Hotel Champlain in a seven-room suite on the second floor in the southwest corner of the annex added during the hotel's second year of operation.

The first lady suffered from epilepsy, and doctors believed the clean summer air and sunshine would ease her suffering. McKinley reportedly said she would amaze everyone back in Washington with the feats she was capable of while she was here. How the North Country environment improved the first lady's health, however, is a mystery. She spent most of the time indoors, thereby isolating her from the environment that was to soothe her.

This therapeutic environment was also home to a military base. The twenty-first regiment stationed at the Plattsburgh Barracks near Bluff Point boasted a band that played regularly for the hotel guests. The regiment came to be known as the "President's Own." The company had a band that frequently played for the hotel guests, including the president.

McKinley was a humble man, who tipped his hat to locals on the streets during excursions. Rather than emphasize that fact that he was the president, he signed the registrar simply as "William McKinley and wife."

Near the clubhouse at the nearby Bluff Point Golf Course, McKinley would sit for hours and read under the shade of an old tree, which he was particularly fond of. Legend has it that the same year McKinley was assassinated while the tree was struck by lightning. A plaque reading "McKinley's Pine Tree" has since been removed from the base of the tree. Now, only the trunk remains, in memory of one of the Hotel Champlain's most honored guests.

— S.M.