Camps on or near Raquette Lake
	1877 - Great Camp PINE KNOT (Camp Huntington)
Metcalf originally where the men had cigars and brandy after dinner	1881 Stoddard photo 1st building constructed by  Dr. Thomas Durant c1877	Swiss cottage
National Register of Historical Places in 1986	Sitting Room	Floor to ceiling fireplace
Named in honor of Dr. Harlan Metcalf who "discovered" abandoned camp in 1947	2007 view of Chalet William Durant added 2nd floor c1882	Cabin
Lean-to	Side door of Chalet	Lean-to

PINE KNOT - William West Durant continues to have a strong influence on the Adirondack style of architecture.  His travels in Europe had exposed him to the Swiss chalet style which he combined with his thoughts on leaving the existing natural environment undisturbed.  In addition, A.J. Downing in 1850 and Calvert Daux in 1857 had published works acquainting the American public with the chalet style.

Most construction materials were gathered or made on-site. [4]  Durant's first Great Camp, Pine Knot  [5], was started by his father, Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, in 1877 as a group of rough cabins and was taken over by William in 1879.  Construction on the 201-acre site continued through 1892.  

Pine Knot was the first artistic camp, a beautiful showplace where the Durants entertained the rich and famous, hoping to interest them in building their own camps in the woods.

In 1895 Pine Knot was sold to Collis P. Huntington, the railroad magnate, in settlement of a debt.  As Durant completed one home, he would often live in it for a time and then sell the property to help finance his next project.

The rustic design - native stone, bark and whole logs - of many of the buildings in the New York State Park System, and of the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone, was influenced by the Adirondack style. [6]  

	1893 - Great Camp Uncas
1957  Interior Main Lodge	Hawkeye Cabin	1906 ad for stain used at Uncas Quote from John Callahan
1899 Gate to Uncas Road Stoddard photo		1899 Uncas Road Stoddard photo

UNCAS - As wealthy home owners began to demand more and more comforts and luxuries from their vacation homes, Durant's beautiful camps continued to attract famous names such as J.P. Morgan and Alfred G. Vanderbilt.  In 1895 a New York City newspaper reported "Financier J. P. Morgan's Adirondack camp, Camp Uncas, is completed by promoter William West Durant." ⁷   

Yet Alfred L. Donaldson, after a 1920s conversation with William Durant, writes in his A History of the Adirondacks that Uncas on Lake Mohegan was completed in 1890 and then sold to Morgan in 1895 in settlement of a loan.⁸

Uncas was at one point owned by Herb Birrell who operated it as a museum.  It is now the summer home of the Kirschenbaum family.

During a 1920s interview, Durant reminisced that he had never appreciated the financial circumstances into which he had been born.  "When I start a new project, I want the finest materials available, the best of everything.  I never considered the cost."

	1897 - Great Camp Sagamore
Main Lodge		1970s View
c1897-99 Durant's Boat House	1928 George's Cottage & 1898 Laundry	c1901 Playhouse designed by William Coulter
c1914 Bowling Alley still used today	Sagamore Lake formerly Shedd Lake	c1924 Dining Alcove enlarged by Vanderbilts

photos courtesy Sagamore                               

Sagamore was reputably William West Durant's favorite home, where he lived until financial circumstances forced him to sell to Alfred G. Vanderbilt in 1901.  The Vanderbilt family owned Sagamore until 1954.  Following the plan of Durant's previous camps, the 1,524 acre estate was built on peninsula jutting out into a lake, Shedd Lake, renamed Sagamore.

In 1913 the Vanderbilts decided to make Sagamore their main vacation home and began a two-year program of expansion and improvement.  Telephone service was installed in 1914 as well as a water and sewage system as advanced as any city in the country.  And in 1915 electricity replaced the gas lights.⁹

 

	1898 - Great Kamp KILL KARE
1899 Surveyors on Lake Kora Road Stoddard photo		1899 Man at Kamp Kill Kare PO Box Stoddard photo

Vanderbilt purchased nearby Kamp Kill Kare in 1913 from NYS Lieutenant Governor Timothy Woodruff, selling it one year later to Mr. and Mrs. Francis P. Garvan.  In 1898 Durant built a rough hunting cabin on the property which was expanded by Woodruff.  Kill Kare is still in the Garvan family.

After Vanderbilt's death in 1915 on the Lithuania, his widow kept the Sagamore property until 1954 when it was deeded to Syracuse University.  It is now run by the Sagamore Institute, a non-profit organization.

Credit needs to be given to Professor Howard Kirschenbaum and his wife Barbara Glaser who created the National Humanistic Education Center in 1970 and were instrumental in saving Sagamore from being torn down and the land returned to the state. 

Today properties like these have come to be recognized as historical and architectural treasures, but in the late 1970s they were considered "white elephants" and could be bought for a song.  Sagamore, formerly owned by Syracuse University, became our conference center where we could house 100 participants and staff.  Uncas became our private "camp." 

Howard Kirschenbaum in a 2001 Interview

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In 1926, after all of the wealth and grandeur, Durant and his second wife, Annie Cotton Durant, were found living in a modest half-basement apartment at 501 Fifth Avenue in the West Central Park area of New York City.¹⁰   Due to family problems, business failures and the unexpected death in 1900 of his financial backer, Collis P. Huntington, Durant declared bankruptcy in 1904 and rarely returned to his beloved Adirondacks.  He died in 1934 at the age of 83. 

But the legacy of William West Durant lives on as each succeeding generation takes on the mantle of conservator of the Adirondack Park.  And the legacy continues in the Great Camps, two of which, Pine Knot (Camp Huntington) and Sagamore, are open to the public by appointment.

Three of the Great Camps on or near Raquette Lake have been added to the National Register of Historic Places - Sagamore in 1976 and 1986, Pine Knot in 1986 and Uncas in 1987.  

In addition, Sagamore and Pine Knot are listed by the National Park Service as National Landmarks.  These are "exceptional places that form a common bond between all Americans....the spirit and direction of the Nation are founded upon and reflected in its historic heritage."

~~~~~~~

Links to additional information

 Pine Knot

Sagamore

History of Adirondack Architecture

Great Camps of the Adirondacks - Harvey Kaiser

Adirondack Design - Michael Bird

Great Camps Tour

National Park Service

1969  American Heritage - "The Adirondacks"

1981  Adirondacks Survivors: Rustic "Grand Camps"

2002  "Camping like the Vanderbilts in the Adirondacks"

Return to Raquette Lake Photos                                                                                      Return to William West Durant

⁴ Spider Rybaak.  "Log Palaces."  Syracuse New Times Net. June 1998.  [Online] Available HTTP:  http://newtimes.rway.com/1998/061098/cover.htm.  [August 21, 2004].

 

⁵  Unknown.  [from Harvey H. Kaiser.  Great Camps of the Adirondacks.  (Boston: David R. Godine. 1982).  p 74, 179, 181].  [Online] Available HTTP:  http://www.seanet.com/~tdeering/thesis/ch-2b.htm#_02a.  [August 7, 2004].

 

⁶  United States Department of the Interior.  National Park Service.  Adirondack Camps Theme Study.  pp 3-4.  [Online]  Available HTTP:  http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl/themes/Architecture/2camp.pdf.  [August 7, 2004].

 

⁷  Minor.  NYNY Index 1893-1896.  [Online]  Available HTTP: 

 http://home.eznet.net/~dminor/NYNY1893.html.  [August 7, 2004].

 

⁸ Alfred L. Donaldson.   A History of the Adirondacks.  2 vols., Fleischmanns, New York:  Purple Mountain Press, Inc., 1996.  Paperback reprint of 1921 edition.

 

⁹ Howard Kirschenbaum.  The Story of Sagamore.  Raquette Lake, New York:  Sagamore Institute, 1990. pp 25-26.

 

¹⁰  Richard M. Kolbet.  "The Levi 0. Leonard Railroad Collection."  Books at Iowa 8.  [U of Iowa April 1968.].  [Online]  Available HTTP:    http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/kolbet.htm.   [July 3, 2004].

2008-01-19 18:05:19