Sagamore Camp

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Sagamore Camp is one of several historic so-called "Great Camps" located in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State, which were built for the super-rich of the American Gilded Age as remote and luxurious rustic summer retreats. It was constructed by William West Durant on Sagamore Lake between 1895-1897. Durant was the son of Thomas C. Durant (1820-1885), a railroad tycoon and financial manipulator who briefly gained control of the Union Pacific Railroad during the 1860s, and whose machinations resulted in the 1872 Crédit Mobilier scandal. By the 1870s Thomas Durant had become the largest private landowner in the Adirondacks, and he had delegated his son to develop portions of his holdings for future sale to the moneyed elite. Prior to Sagamore, William Durant had constructed Camp Pine Knot (purchased by Collis P. Huntington and now the Huntington Memorial Outdoor Education Center [1]) and Camp Uncas (once owned by J. P. Morgan), both on nearby Raquette Lake. All three camps are still in use today.

In 1901 Durant was forced to sell Sagamore, reputedly because a lawsuit by his sister over his mismanagement of their mother's estate had pushed him to the edge of bankruptcy.^[1] It was purchased by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who expanded and improved the property to include flush toilets, a sewer system and hot and cold running water. He later added a hydroelectric plant and an outdoor bowling alley with an ingenious system for retrieving the balls. Other amenities included a tennis court, a croquet lawn, a 100,000 gallon reservoir, and a working farm. Vanderbilt died in 1915, a victim of the Lusitania sinking, leaving Sagamore to his widow Margaret Emerson, an avid sportswoman who continued to occupy the camp for many years. Mrs. Emerson transferred the property to Syracuse University, which operated a conference center here until the State of New York offered to buy it. Acquisition by the State would have required demolition of the historic buildings, because of the "Forever Wild" provision of the State Constitution. To avert this, the Preservation League of New York arranged with the State to take title, transferring the property with deed restrictions to a not-for-profit institution that would provide suitable occupancy. Camp Sagamore has continued to function as a conference center.

The camp is arranged in two complexes a half-mile apart, the Upper or worker's complex, and the Lower or guest complex. The guests would not have frequented the worker's complex, as the buildings here are much more utilitarian than those in the Guest complex, and without the embellishment of the buildings designed for entertaining. Sagamore served as a sylvan setting in which the richest families in America could relax, party, and get a feeling of returning to nature. All of this, however, was accomplished without leaving the comforts of civilization behind.

Sagamore was designated as a National Historic Landmark on 2000-05-16. The historic camp is now run by Sagamore Institute of the Adirondacks, Inc. [2] and is open to the public, offering accommodations May through October.

[edit] External links

• Haynes, Wesley. Adirondack Great Camp Theme Study

• Sagamore Lodge - National Historic Landmark. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

• History of Pine Knot and Sagamore. Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

• Hinds, Michael. "ADIRONDACK SURVIVORS: RUSTIC 'GRAND CAMPS'", New York Times, 1981-08-27. Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

• History of Adirondack Architecture. Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

[edit] Further reading

• Kirschenbaum, Howard (2001). Story of Sagamore. North Country Books. ISBN 0-913393-02-9.

• Kaiser, Harvey H. (2003). Great Camps of the Adirondacks. David R. Godine. ISBN 1-56792-073-X.

• Gilborn, Craig A. (2000). Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0626-5.

• Gilborn, Craig (1981). Durant: Fortunes and Woodland Camps of a Family in the Adirondacks. North Country Books. ISBN 0-932052-24-X.

[edit] Video documentaries

• America's Castles: Adirondack Camps. A&E (1996). Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

• Adirondack Great Camps, Part One: Durant and Raquette Lake (1996). Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

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