In 1866, surveyor D.M. Arnold gave the nineteenth highest peak its name while running a line between Lake Champlain and Cold River. The wide, flat summit of Tabletop Mountain provided the inspiration for the name, which first appeared in print ten years later, in Gray’s Atlas of Essex County.

The heavily wooded summit of Tabletop, with minimal views of the surrounding mountains, failed to attract the attention of 19th century hikers. Jim Suitor, a cruiser (person responsible for taking the timber inventory of a tract) for the J. & J. Rogers Company, is credited with the first recorded ascent of the peak in 1911. After his company bought timberland that included Tabletop Mountain, Suitor was put in charge of making a fire line around the cutting, leading him to summit this 4,427-foot peak.

Tabletop Mountain is typically approached via a herd-path that branches off of the Van Hoevenberg Trail (the main trail up Mount Marcy). The last half-mile of trail, while unmarked, is relatively easy to follow.