Abbey Lodge is located on historic Round Island, an island approximately a mile long located just northeast of Clayton, New York, on the St. Lawrence River. Also known as Frontenac, the island was originally developed as a Baptist campground community. It later became the site of the grand New Frontenac Hotel, a Gilded Age  hotel that burned in 1911.

Today, about 40 cottages are located along the shores of the island, with much of the interior preserved as woodlands with walking trails. While there are no commercial facilities on the island, the Frontenac Post Office, which once served the hotel, still receives mail in the summer for residents and is the community center for the island. Nearby, tennis courts are available for the use of islanders.

Abbey Lodge was built in 1908 in the then popular Eastlake architectural style. We do not know the origin of the cottage’s name, but we do know that for many years it was owned by the Reverend John Abbot Redmond, a prominent Methodist minister and district superintendent in upstate New York.