The lake is also part of the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which begins in Old Forge, NY and ends in Fort Kent, ME.

One account is that it was named for snowshoes (raquette in French) left by a party of Tories led by Sir John Johnson in 1776.

Raquette Lake served as a midpoint to other Gilded Age retreats such as the Great Camps Sagamore (1897; now a National Historic Landmark), Camp Uncas (1890; became a National Historic Landmark in fall 2008), and Kamp Kill Kare (1896) on nearby lakes Sagamore, Mohegan, and Kora, respectively.

When Bluff Point was sold to magazine publisher Robert Collier in 1905, most of the original structures were modified and expanded into the present score of buildings — the huge walk-in fireplace, the bowling alley, the bridge to the gazebo, etc.

In 1895, W.W. Durant sold the camp to Collis P. Huntington (builder of the western half of the Transcontinental Railroad) in partial repayment of a debt.

William West Durant also provided the funding for two summer chapels on Raquette Lake, accessible only by water.