The Axton Hotel dates to at least 1903, run by Charles Wardner when it appears in a list of establishments serving liquor.
Potsdam Courier and Freeman, November 6, 1895
Ferris J. Meigs of the firm of Dodge, Meigs & Co., was in town last week. We believe they are going to erect a large hotel at Axton.
Lake Placid News, November 25, 1921
That Mr. [Sam] Barton has been "almost a dead shot" is testified to by Dr. F. C. Day, who a few years ago was at the hotel at Axton with Mr. Barton. While the guests were at dinner the cry went up that a buck was to be seen on the other side of the lake. The rule that deer might not be shot in the water was not then made law, and the distance was so great that no one thought it possible to hit the deer. Before that company Dr. Day tells how Sam Barton brought down that deer at a distance approaching a third of a mile. The first bullet was seen to make the deer leap almost out of the water, and the second shot finished him.
Tupper Lake Free Press, February 8, 1934
…The Santa Clara Lumber Co., then operating extensively in the Ampersand and Cold River sectors, used Axton as a base. The large hotel conducted by the late Fred Woods was well patronized by lumbermen going to and from camps 1, 2, 3 and 4, up to Cold River and Shattuck Clearing.
In those early times it was a two-day trip to get up and back. Today the trip to Axton may be made in 26 minutes with ease, with modern autos instead of the horse-drawn vehicles in mud as obtained before state roads were established…
Tupper Lake Free Press and Herald, September 28, 1988
...The [Healing Woods Counseling] center is located in the former Axton Hotel. Originally located in Axton, it was moved to its present location at Coreys in the 1920s. Lisa and her husband, Klaus [Meissner], have renovated the former dining room of the lodge in order to provide private counseling to the community...
