The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation operates a campground on Kushaqua and nearby Buck Pond.

In 1901, the Stony Wold Sanatorium was built on 1800 acres bordering the lake.

The rail bed of the Delaware and Hudson line runs along the eastern shore of the lake, past the Buck Pond campground, and that of the Adirondack Division of the New York Central Railroad runs along the western shore past the remaining buildings of Stony Wold: the chapel and two cottages on the lake shore.

When it was built, the 1,200 acres (490 ha) sanatorium property included all of Lake Kushaqua and nearby Buck Pond, purchased in 1901 for $20,000.

When the sanatorium closed in the 1950s, it was given to the White Fathers of Africa; they sold it to the state in 1970, after which the huge main building, laundry and power plant were destroyed.