At the time of European encounter, the area was inhabited chiefly by the historic Iroquoian-speaking Mohawk of the Iroquois Confederacy to the west of Lake Champlain, with the Algonquian-speaking Mahican people to the south.

It was not until 1785, after the American Revolutionary War, when most of the Iroquois allies went to Upper Canada with the Loyalists, that the first European-American permanent settlement was made here.

They were called the St. Regis and Oswegatchie Indians, although both groups were Catholic Iroquois, primarily Mohawk and Onondaga.

(The St. Regis group were Catholic Mohawk who lived at the reserve of Akwesasne, whose territory along the St. Lawrence River included land within the boundaries of both Canada and New York.

Today it is recognized in the United States as the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and in Canada as Akwesasne.

This area also processed iron in smelting, and shipped products from Port Henry on Lake Champlain.

The Iron Center Museum in Port Henry recalls and interprets that past era.

[5][7] Winter ice-fishing for smelt on the frozen Lake Champlain has been a popular sport for more than a century.