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1880
"...but
afar off...came a sound as of one who drives nails into resonant
boards. As I live, it turned out to be a new church in the
course of erection on an island."
Canoe
trip 8 August 1880. George Washington Sears.
"Nessmuk's Adirondack Letters"
1890
"St.
Hubert's jagged front, rude paths and rustic bridge...declare
a spot remote...."
"Like pinions moving, the oars are plied the church to
reach"
Rev.
E.O. Flagg. “Earlier
and Later Poems”
1893
"A
small chapel of graceful design stands on this island, and, with its
parsonage, forms an interesting feature of the locality."
“State
of New York Annual Report of the Forest Commission”
1921
"The
scene of a bright Sunday morning, when the boats gathered from far and
near, filled with worshippers in gay apparel, was highly picturesque
and gave church-going the novel charm of a devotional outing to a
shrine of God-tinged beauty."
Alfred
Donaldson. "A History of the Adirondacks"
Church
of the
Good
Shepherd
St.
Hubert’s Isle
HC02
Box 237
Raquette
Lake, NY
13436-9601
Contact
Us
www.sthubertsisle.com
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1ST
DURANT DAYS A SUCCESS
TOUR
OF GOOD SHEPHERD
From August 6-8 Raquette Lake celebrated its first Annual Durant Days.
More than 350 enjoyed activities for the whole family—everything
from barn dancing to a boat parade to tours of the Adirondack Great
Camps built by William West Durant (1850-1934).
On Sunday morning 60 of you—all
that the barge could handle—toured Good Shepherd (1880), St. William’s
(1890) and Camp Pine Knot (1876-89), all buildings associated with
Durant.
Jean Carmichael spoke for 20 minutes about the history of St.
Hubert’s. and her granddaughter Dorian described life in the late
1800s on neighboring Osprey Island. Then everyone trouped over to the
rectory porch to enjoy a continental breakfast provided by Jean’s
daughter-in-law, Sandra.
Durant
Days Photos
AMERICA'S
CASTLES
In the summer of
1995, A&E cable television sent several free-lance writers and
photographers up to the Raquette Lake area to film a segment for their
popular series, “America's Castles,” highlighting the rustic
summer camps built by William West Durant and later sold to J.P. Morgan,
Collis P. Huntington, Alfred G. Vanderbilt and NY Lt. Governor Timothy
Woodruff.
One of the
individuals interviewed was the Rev. Ralph M. Carmichael of St.
Hubert’s Isle. He spoke of how Durant raised the funds to build the Church of the
Good Shepherd, dedicated to the people of Raquette Lake, and had personally brought the beautiful stained glass
windows and pump organ over to the island.
And of how Ralph felt
that the people of Raquette Lake, then as now, are the "salt of
the earth. "
Although that segment ended
up on the cutting room floor, the family appreciated being sent a tape
of Ralph’s last interview before his death just ten days later, on
26 August 1995.
[Note - we later found that two
VHS tapes were made from those interviews and Ralph' segment is on the
second, found by organist Steven Rosenberry in a library and viewed by
Andy Carmichael at a real estate meeting!]
From that series came
the idea of publicizing all that Raquette Lake has to offer,
emphasizing the special place that Durant holds in opening the Central
Adirondacks to tourism. Donna Pohl of the Raquette Lake Navigation
Company and Beverly Bridger of Sagamore were the prime instigators,
supported by the entire community.
Durant's
Great Camps Sagamore
Pine
Knot
75 ATTEND ANNUAL
SERVICE BY BOAT
They arrived by
party-barge, canoe and rowboat—no sailboats or seaplanes as in past
years. There were many new visitors to the island church, and many who have been
faithfully attending since 1959.
We missed Stanley
Brown-Serman’s daughters this summer, Mary Walke and Betty Hayes.
They have been coming to the Island since the 1920s. In the 1950s we
even had a neighbor from nearby Wee Two Island who remembers coming to
services as a young child, before 1900.
A big thank you to
the Rev. Alan Macnab from St. Eustace Church in Lake Placid who was
the guest preacher, and to his organist, Virginia Gilmore, who did an
excellent job on the 1873 Estey pump organ. And thank you to everyone
for your generous contributions for the care of this historic
building.
LET US HEAR FROM
YOU -
Thank you everyone who signed up to
help with future services. You offered to assist with everything from
refreshments to bringing chain saws to help cut through the brush!
We will be contacting you in the
spring to begin plans for next summer. In 2000, the Durant Days Tour
and the Annual Service will both be on the same day, Sunday 6 August.
Please write us at the above address
or from the web site if you have any further ideas on how to keep Good
Shepherd viable for another 120 years….
**********
Matriarch of all—Jean Carmichael
Carmichael Family Trust—Paul
Carmichael, Trustee
Good Shepherd Fund—John Carmichael
Web Page and Newsletter—Fay
Carmichael
Gardener Extraordinaire—Sandra
Carmichael
Master Carpenter & Electrician—Raymond
Masse
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