North Country (New York)

It is bordered by Lake Champlain to the east and further east to the adjacent state of Vermont and the New England region; the Adirondack Mountains / Adirondack Park and the Upper Capital District with the state capital of Albany to the south; the Mohawk Valley region of New York to the southwest; the Canadian-American international border (with the Province of Ontario in the Dominion of Canada) to the north; and Lake Ontario, (the eastern-most of the Great Lakes) and the Saint Lawrence River / Saint Lawrence Seaway, and beyond the waters again to Ontario / Canada to the west.

[1] A mostly rural forested area, the North Country includes seven counties (or 14, according to another group) of the 62 in New York state.

[2] The term "North Country" was first widely popularized within New York by the 1900 novel Eben Holden by Irving Bacheller.

[3] According to the Empire State Development Corporation in the state capital of Albany, New York, the North Country encompasses the following seven counties:[2] However, according to another interest group of the Adirondack North Country Association, the North Country consists of a larger designated area of 14 counties; with those listed above and also the following further south and west: These are all counties in which part of Adirondack State Park resides.

The contemporary North Country includes all of the famous Adirondack Park, with 14 surrounding counties, 14 cities, 255 towns and almost 40 percent of the state’s geographic area.

The Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago within the Saint Lawrence River to the north. Boldt Castle , on Heart Island , is seen at center.
Map showing five counties and several of the largest towns in the northern and westernmost parts of the North Country region, out of the traditional 7 or 14 counties, considered to make up the region