I’ve spent a week every summer of the last 30+ years at Silver Bay with my parents (excluding 2020 for obvious reasons). It is our happy place. My dad first attended as a young boy, and our family started going when I was about 5. It’s a chance to recharge, reset, and reconnect. At Silver Bay, you can be still and soak up the awe-inspring scenery of Lake George overlooking the Adirondack mountains or you can pack in activities from sunrise until past sunset. The beauty of nature and the slower pace allows you to breathe.
Activities
Silver Bay has several weeks of Family camp towards the end of summer catering to large and small families. Silver Bay is also a wonderful location for life’s big moments including weddings and celebrations of life. They also host conferences for corporate and religious groups. Silver Bay would also be a wonderful place for a solo retreat. They also offer cancer, military, and pastoral respite services.
This is not your local YMCA limited to a swimming pool and some fitness classes. Silver Bay has all the fun activities you expect from a traditional camp setting: archery, tennis, hiking, boating, a sand beach, crafts, nature center, and fitness plus available spiritual life activities that come from being a YMCA. When we sing at church “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place,” you can feel in the very air that it is true. Yet Silver Bay is a welcoming place that non-Christians would feel comfortable enjoying.
Silver Bay is the perfect setting for multigenerational gatherings with supervised children’s programming, lectures, and musical entertainment. You can plan your activities together or go your own separate ways. Our family likes to end each night together in the Ice Cream Store. We enjoy catching up with another family that has also been coming for years.
Lodging
Silver Bay has the newly built Boyd center complete with air conditioning, a historic Inn with wrap around porch full of rocking chairs, accommodations with private or shared bathrooms, and individual cottages. The focus is on connecting to the present, so don’t expect TVs or room phones, although in the last decade the cell service and WIFI have caught up to allow you to connect if you choose. Silver Bay is popular and the top lodging books well in advance. A year out is not too soon to start looking especially if you need special accommodations like a walk-in shower or want to overlook the lake.
Food
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are available with your stay (those in cottages often opt to cook their own meals). Food is buffet style with salad and fruit readily available as well as plenty of meat and potatoes. As a picky eater, I can always find something to eat.
Location
87 Silver Bay Rd, Silver Bay, NY 12874. It’s about a 90-minute drive from Albany Airport by rental car through the beautiful Adirondack mountains along Lake George. Beyond the more touristy area, Silver Bay is in the heart of nature overlooking the bay where the mountain land across the lake is all forest preserve.
Links to learn more
https://www.facebook.com/SilverBayYMCA
Silver Bay: “Where you come to make Memories”
