Knollwood Club
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Knollwood Club is an Adirondack Great Camp on Shingle Bay, Lower Saranac Lake, near the village of Saranac Lake, New York. It was built in 1899-1900 by William L. Coulter, who had previously created a major addition to Alfred G. Vanderbilt's Sagamore Camp. The "club" consisted of a boathouse, "casino", and six identical two-and-a-half story shingle cottages, which were distinguished by unique twig work facades.
The camp was built for six friends, including Louis Marshall, Daniel Guggenheim. The choice of Lower Saranac Lake as the site was determined in part by the growing anti-semitism in America in that period. In 1877, Joseph Seligman was involved in the most publicized antisemitic incident in American history up to that point, being denied entry into the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga, New York. William West Durant owned much of the land bordering the Saranac Lakes, and was more than willing to sell to any and all buyers. As a result, many of the Great Camps and cottages on the Saranac Lakes were built by wealthy Jews.
Bob Marshall, the wilderness activist, and George Marshall, the conservationist, spent the summers of their youth there, and were greatly influenced by the surroundings.
[edit] Sources
- Kaiser, Harvey. Great Camps of the Adirondacks. Boston: David R. Godine, 1982. ISBN 0-87923-308-7.