About the Silverlaken Estate & Bellamy Family
In the mid/late 1800’s, Perry was a thriving mill town and Silver Lake was a popular tourist destination for church retreats and private camps.
The water running down the outlet of Silver Lake provided the hydropower for a dozen textile mills in what is now Perry's Main Street. Silverlaken’s lodge building was the summer retreat of the Traber family, who owned a large mill in town.
Long before air conditioning, wealthy families escaped the heat by coming to the shores of the lake. The Traber family placed a decorative mill stone on the front lawn over a hundred years ago. It’s still there in the same place! The massive evergreens, walnuts and hickory trees were planted back in that era, and are still standing proud well over 150 years later.
By the time of the First World War, hydropower was replaced by the modern engine and the mills began to close up. The property changed hands a few times and fell into a state of disrepair for decades.
The estate’s current owner, Mike Bellamy, spent his childhood on the lake and worked at his family's marina before heading off to college. After a 20-year career in Asia, Mike retired in 2016, returned to Silver Lake with his wife Anita & daughters, purchased the Traber estate and renamed it “Silverlaken."
Three years were spent arranging permits, planting native trees, landscaping, restoring the main buildings, adding solar panels, installing rental units and upgrading infrastructure (power, gas, water, sewer).
The Spring 2020 grand opening was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the inaugural summer season went well. Travel restrictions were loosened in July and tourists from metropolitan areas came to rural upstate NY in search of elbow room and fresh area after enduring a long winter stuck inside for Covid.
Eldest daughter Ting Bellamy was raised in Asia but came to the US for boarding school and stayed for college. After graduating with degrees in Business and Art from Houghton College, Ting joined the family business in 2021 with a focus on customer service, interior decorations and marketing. She is the manager of the Estate and customer's primary point of contact.
In 2024 Silverlaken was awarded Wyoming County's Tourism Attraction of the Year.
Welcome Video
Dear Guest,
You may see members of our staff and family around Silverlaken as we are often onsite doing yardwork, hanging out on the waterfront or enjoying the boats.
We don’t hover or disturb our guests, but we’d love to meet you and say hello whenever it’s convenient for you!
If for any reason you experience any issue during your stay or booking, no matter how large or small, please contact us right away. As a small, family-owned business, we greatly appreciate a chance to resolve the issue on the spot.
We truly appreciate that you choose to vacation at Silverlaken and hope this website and the Estate Manual will help you make the most of your stay with us. We warmly welcome any suggestions you may have!
Warmest Regards,
The Bellamy Family (Summer 2022)
Mike - Property Developer
Anita - Gardening
Ting – Estate Manager
Astrid - Tadpole Wrangler & Chipmunk Chaser
Historic Restoration
In 2016 the multi-million dollar project was launched and 3 lots were acquired in the lake district, creating the longest strip of privately held waterfront on Silver Lake.
After consultation with the relevant authorities and neighbors, a site plan was finalized and the land was transferred to Laken Holdings/ Silverlaken LLC. A Special Use Permit was granted, allowing Silverlaken to offer unique accommodations and water-centric recreation to a targeted segment of the 1,000,000+ tourists who visit Letchworth State park each year. Silverlaken was accepted into the PILOT program of Wyoming County IDA, and enjoys local support.
Giving Back
We are proud of our small part in helping the local community tackle the following issues:
- Job Creation. In addition to the dozens of contractors involved during the construction phase, we are now starting the process of recruiting various full and part time staff.
- Sustainable Taxation. At present, the majority of private cottage rentals on the lake don’t report rental income nor pay the required occupancy tax. Silverlaken proudly pays all required business and transactional taxes, thus helping to reduce the tax burden placed on local homeowners.
- Knowledge Capital. We wish to help grow the tourism sector in our area by using internships and mentorships to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the next generation of local entrepreneurs & business people.
- Tourism. As our target customers are not local, we are doing our small part to help grow the net-inflow of tourist dollars to Wyoming County. This is especially important when you consider our local manufacturing base has been eroded and many farmers in the dairy industry are struggling.
Silverlaken and the Bellamy Family are active members of the following community organizations:
Environmental Stewardship
“Going green and respecting the environment is not just for marketing, it’s the foundation of the project. We want to show that vacation properties, in terms of construction and guests’ footprints, can be both luxurious AND lower carbon.
- Buffer Zones: Almost 17,140 sq. feet have been marked as green buffer zones around the exterior of the property.
- Minimal Fixed Infrastructure: In terms of the number of rental units per acre, Silverlaken has a tiny fraction of the full number allowed by zoning. Rental units are made with methods and materials that lower their carbon footprint. Tiny Houses by definition are small!
- Solar: On May 15th 2018, we turned on the solar panels, and now solely rely on energy from the sun!
- Heat Pump Water Heaters: Silverlaken has started to phase out traditional water heaters in favor of high-efficiency, eco-friendly HPWH's that work like a refrigerator in reverse, moving heat from the surrounding air into a water storage tank rather than generating heat directly. A fan draws air over evaporator coils, transferring ambient heat to a refrigerant, which is then compressed, heated, and used to warm the water before releasing cooler air used to dehumidify and cool living spaces.
- Reuse-Repurpose-Recycle:
- It would have been a lot easier and quicker to bulldoze the old cottage. Instead it was renovated and given a new life as the Lakehouse.
- Can & Bottles are collected for redemption & recycle. Funds are donated to local rotary club and churches.
- Native Plantings: We are committed to clearing invasive plants and replacing them with trees native to our area. Honey suckle and Japanese ironweed have been eradicated.
- Harmony with Lake, Woods, Fields & Farms:
- Silverlaken has consulted the USDA and other groups in order to restore the riparian areas of the property as it wasn’t maintained for almost 15 years. For example, the Estate has added multiple, small decorative ponds. In addition to their scenic beauty, the ponds help to catch excess nutrients in runoff from farm fields around Silver Lake — before they end up in the lake.
- The old breakwall was replaced but not extended. There aren’t many places on the lake where the trees are thick down to the waterline and we aim to preserve the woodland features of our plot.
- Based on consultations with NYS DEC, we installed 300 feet of boulders (6 feet wide and 4 feet deep) along water’s edge to create a riparian buffer that is visually appealing to guests while benefiting wildlife on land and water.
- All firewood is processed locally, by hand, from fallen trees. The wood is always seasoned naturally outdoors over the winter, never quick dried in an energy-intense kiln (AKA convenience store bundles).
- The Paddleboat, Complementary Kayaks & Stand Up Paddleboards are human-powered, zero carbon emissions, no fuel spills, and no noise pollution! Kayaks do not create large wakes that cause shoreline erosion and hard aquatic environments.
- Dark Sky Commitment: The dark-sky movement is a campaign to reduce light pollution and enjoy the night sky. Advantages include an increased number of stars visible at night, reducing the effects of electric lighting on the environment, improving the well-being, health and safety of both people and wildlife, and cutting down on energy usage. Enjoy the stars but bring a flashlight as we intentionally limit lighting between the buildings!
- EV’s are warmly welcome: Standard outlets are available at the camp. We hope to have a level 2 charging station installed soon. Downtown Perry has fast charging stations.
Consider an environmentally friendly approach while staying at Silverlaken:
- Use the fans rather than AC when possible.
- Turn off lights/electronics when not in use.
- Electric blankets use less energy than space heaters and are way more comfortable!
- For maximum comfort and energy efficiency, please remember to close windows and doors when using AC.