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Geography
Essex County is located
in the heart of New York State's Adirondack Park – south
of Montreal and north of New York City.
The
Adirondack Park is a six-million acre park comprised of both
public and private lands and contains the largest protected
areas in the continental United States. The Park is
ecologically significant in that it contains one of the least
fragmented temperate forest landscapes anywhere in the world.
The Park is also significant in that it contains historic
resources, charming hamlets and villages, a rich cultural
history and access to recreational resources. The Park
is home to 130,000 full-time residents and is visited annually
by 8 million people. The people of New York State value
the Adirondacks as a cherished resource with the Constitutional
protections of the public lands of the Forest Preserve and
the Adirondack Park Agency which regulates land use planning
for private lands. Local communities are also stewards
of this unique Park and believe that their communities must
also prosper to continue to provide the environmental benefits
that are shared by New York residents.
Interstate 87, the major highway between Albany and Canada runs right through the county. Amtrak's Manhattan to Montreal "Adirondack Special" also makes a number of stops within the county.
Boasting 1,907 square miles of land, Essex is the largest county in the park. Its terrain varies, ranging from 95 feet above sea level at Lake Champlain to 5,344 feet at Mount Marcy – the highest point in New York State. Lakes, rivers, streams, along with hundreds of miles of wilderness cover the landscape.
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