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2009 Tours
Camp Santanoni was built for Robert and Anna Pruyn of Albany beginning in 1892. The estate eventually included 12,900 acres and nearly four-dozen buildings. Led by AARCH Executive Director Steven Engelhart and former AARCH board member John Friauf, the tour will include stops at the Gate Lodge, Santanoni's 200-acre farm, and the Main Camp on Newcomb Lake. We'll also see the ongoing restoration of the Main Camp complex and will learn first hand about all of the conservation planning and restoration work underway. The tour and discussion will feature the completed restoration of the Main Camp's boathouse, which was funded through a $92,000 New York State Environmental Protection Fund grant to AARCH. The boathouse was the most deteriorated of all of Santanoni's buildings. Restoration was completed in 2007 by master carpenter Michael Frenette and crew. The round-trip cross-country ski trip is 9.8 miles on a gently sloping carriage road. The outing begins at 10 a.m. at the Santanoni Preserve parking area in the hamlet of Newcomb. We will return about 3 p.m. The fee is $10 for AARCH members and $15 for non-members. For more information or to make a reservation, call AARCH at (518) 834-9328. Architecture of the Champlain Valley - Walking Tours 2009 Tours will be at 9:30 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays in May and June unless otherwise noted. Attendance is free of charge, but advance registration is required. Reservations may be made by calling AARCH at 834-9328.
Wadhams Tour starts at 10:00
The waters surrounding Valcour Island in Lake Champlain were the scene of the Battle of Valcour, an important naval battle during the Revolutionary War. Here, in October 1776, a small colonial fleet under the command of Benedict Arnold engaged the British fleet. Although most of the American fleet was sunk or scuttled, the effort succeeded in holding off the British southern advance until the following year, thereby buying the Americans much needed time. During the 19th century, the island was briefly home to a fledgling "free-love" colony and, in 1874, a lighthouse was built on it. The island is now part of the Forest Preserve and the lighthouse is being restored by the Clinton County Historical Association. We will travel by boat to Valcour Island for a four-mile interpretive hike with naturalist David Thomas-Train. The tour begins at 10am and ends around 4pm The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members.
Co-sponsored by Historic Saranac Lake (HSL), this tour will be led by Mary Hotaling, executive director of HSL. View many of the buildings and sites that made Saranac Lake America's "Pioneer Health Resort." The village's late 19th-and early 20th century history is closely tied to the treatment for tuberculosis developed by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau. The tour will include the Trudeau Institute, where we will see Little Red, the first cure cottage. We'll visit the former Trudeau Sanatorium, Saranac Laboratory, Union Depot, the Cure Cottage Museum, and the Bela Bartok Cottage. The tour begins at 10am and ends around 3pm Be prepared for uphill walking. The fee is $35 for AARCH and HSL members and $45 for non-members.
During the 19th century, both Keeseville and Ausable Chasm prospered as industrial villages. Early entrepreneurs used waterpower from the Ausable River, abundant local natural resources, and ingenuity to make iron products, textiles, finished wood products, and other manufactured items. In Keeseville, we'll see evidence of this prosperity in the village's many fine homes, sandstone buildings, mills, and historic bridges. After lunch, we'll walk around the hamlet of Ausable Chasm, and visit two hydroelectric sites, and take the walk-and-raft ride (optional) through the "Grand Canyon of the East." AARCH's Steven Engelhart will lead the tour. The tour begins at 10am and ends around 4pm There is no fee, thanks to the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission. TOUR FILLED
In the 1890s a group of friends and investors established the Piseco Company and Irondequoit Club Inn on over 11,000 acres of forest and lakeshore. The inn, an 1850s addition to the residence of Gene Adams, was erected in 1892. Club cottages were added nearby and some members chose to build their own residences along the lake's eastern shore. In addition to the club's buildings, many other independent camps were built. We will visit three of them to explore a variety of building styles and materials. The Holmes camp, Onetah (1924), was designed by architect Albert E. Price in the rustic style. Hodge Podge Lodge (1926) is also rustic, while Rose Hill, featuring an ornate interior and modern luxuries, is summer living at its best. Led by members of the Piseco Historical Society, the tour begins at 10am and ends at 4pm The fee is $40 for AARCH and PHS members and $50 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
Santanoni was built for Robert and Anna Pruyn of Albany beginning in 1892. The estate eventually included 12,900 acres and nearly four-dozen buildings. Led by AARCH's Steven Engelhart, the tour will include stops at the Gate Lodge, Santanoni's 200-acre farm, and the Main Camp on Newcomb Lake where we'll see the ongoing restoration of the Main Camp complex and learn first hand about the conservation planning and restoration work. The round-trip walk is 9.8 miles on a gently sloping carriage road. The tour begins at 10am and ends around 4pm The fee is $20 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society members and $30 for non-members. A limited number of seats are available on a horse-drawn wagon for an additional $20 fee. Susan Arena, AARCH Program Director will lead the September 25 tour.
Take a walk along one of the region's best known main streets with author and columnist Lee Manchester. This tour offers an inside look at some of the village's best preserved examples of commercial architecture including the Lake Placid Library (1896), the Palace Theater (1926), the Olympic Center (1932), as well as several churches. Participants will receive a copy of Main Street, Lake Placid, a book that explores the changing face of Main Street co-authored by Lee. The tour begins at 10am and ends at 3pm The fee is $35 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society members and $45 for non-members.
Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington were passionate about the arts, nature, and animals, and were no strangers to altruism. Their philanthropy created or supported numerous parks, libraries, and museums. Their largest regional contribution came between 1932 and 1939 when they donated 15,000 acres surrounding their W.W. Durant-designed, Arbutus Lake estate in Newcomb, to Syracuse University to create the Huntington Wildlife Preserve. The property was turned over to what is now the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is the site of its Adirondack Ecological Center. We will tour the camp, and learn about Durant's original design, the Huntingtons, and the use by the college of the preserve for ecological research. The tour begins at 10am and ends at 3pm The fee is $35 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society members and $45 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
This tour will look at the distinctive rustic architecture on Big Moose Lake, including the work of Henry Covey, his son Earl, and the Martin family. The tour will include visits to the Big Moose Chapel and Manse, The Waldheim, Covewood Lodge, Brown Gables, and two camps on Crag Point. What makes many of these buildings unusual is their vertical half-log construction. The tour, led by AARCH's Steven Engelhart, begins at 10am and ends around 4pm The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
The Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, originally built in 1845, is the third oldest and the largest prison in New York State. This unique opportunity will take us inside this maximum-security prison where we will visit a cellblock modeled on the "Auburn System," the Church of the Good Thief built entirely by inmates, the North Yard, workshops, and the former Dannemora State Hospital. The history of the prison is fascinating and its architecture most dramatic. The tour begins at 9am and ends at 3pm The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $45 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
On this tour we will visit the recently restored Men's Infirmary at the American Legion Veterans' Mountain Camp on Tupper Lake, the Women's Infirmary, and Hemlock Ledge, one of the most remarkable, intact, and little known camp complexes in the region. The latter was designed in 1907 by New York architect Julian Clarence Levi and includes several buildings, including rustic Birch Cottage, and some notable interiors. The tour begins at 10am and ends at 3pm The fee is $40 for AARCH and Adirondack Museum members and $50 for non-members.
Rising above the town of Wilton, is Mt. McGregor, home to Grant's Cottage and Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility. The latter is a compound of buildings that sprawls along the mountaintop and was constructed in 1912 as a tuberculosis hospital by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to care for afflicted employees. By the 1940s it had become a veteran's camp, followed by a center for people with developmental disabilities. After a period of vacancy, the site reopened in 1976 as a medium security prison. Part of the facility is slated for closure this year, leaving the fate of the complex unknown. Just over the fence is a cottage, where Ulysses S. Grant spent his final months before succumbing to throat cancer in 1885. It was here at Grant Cottage, now a State Historic Site, that the former president completed his memoirs. The tour will be led by Wilton Town historian, Jeannine Woutersz, and will include a visit to the Wilton Heritage Museum. The tour begins at 10am and ends at 4pm The fee is $40 for AARCH and Wilton Historical Society members and $50 for non-members.
AARCH again welcomes Lake Placid architect, Michael Bird, as he guides us through three new projects located near Tupper Lake, all designed or renovated by his firm. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
Rockwell Kent is widely known as an extraordinary American artist--illustrator, painter, and decorative artist--as well as a social activist. Less well known is that Kent was trained as an architect and, while living at his home at Asgaard farm near AuSable Forks, he designed and remodeled several buildings in the area. This tour will visit the farm and four other building and remodeling projects. Included will be the Brewster and Untermeyer houses in Elizabethtown, and the Cowdin House and a barbershop in AuSable Forks. The tour will be led by Anne Mackinnon, author of "A Home to Live and Breathe: The Adirondack Architecture of Rockwell Kent," which appeared in Adirondack Life. The tour will begin at 10 a.m. and end around 4 p.m. The tour fee is $35 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society members and $45 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
The village of Wanakena was established in 1902 by the Rich Lumber Company. Having purchased 16,000 acres on the southwest side of Cranberry Lake, the company dismantled its company housing and other facilities in Granere, Pennsylvania, moved them via railroad, and reassembled them in Wanakena. When Rich left Wanakena for Vermont in 1912, rather than dismantling the worker's houses, they were sold to residents and tourists as summer camps. Bill Gleason will lead us on a walking tour to look at some of the original company houses. We will enjoy a barbecue lunch at the Pinecone Restaurant's lakeside pavilion and then carpool to the New York Ranger School, which has offered a forestry program since 1912 and was built on land donated by the lumber company. The day will conclude with a visit to Knollwood, designed and built by Dr. Frederick R. Calkins in 1915. A complex of three summer camp buildings and a pedestrian suspension bridge, Knollwood is located at the Inlet on the Oswegatchie River. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $45 for AARCH members and $55 for non-members. Lunch is included. TOUR FILLED
Incorporated as a village in 1839, Glens Falls was granted its city charter on March 13, 1908. Growing as an industrial center, it relied heavily on the Hudson River to support its mills. Mark Frost of The Chronicle will lead a walking and driving tour of the downtown area. We will explore the city's industrial, economic, and architectural history over the past 135 years including the Finch, Pruyn and Company paper mill, buildings associated with lumber baron Henry Crandall, the former Clark Brothers glove factory, the Feeder Canal, and more. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3:30 p.m. The fee is $30 for AARCH members and $40 for non-members.
This boat and walking tour will include visits to Camp Pine Knot, St. William's on Long Point, and portions of The Antlers, a former hotel. William West Durant built Pine Knot beginning in the late 1870s and it was here that he first developed the features and details we now associate with Adirondack rustic architecture. Saratoga Springs architect R. Newton Brezee, a friend of Durant's, designed The Antlers in 1886. It originally operated as a hotel and cottage resort. Durant was also responsible for building Catholic St. William's in 1890 to provide services for his employees. The tour begins at 10 a.m., includes a one-mile walk along a wooded trail, and ends around 4 p.m. The fee is $45 for AARCH members and $55 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
Tour one of the oldest and largest paper mills in the Adirondacks, recently re-opened as Newton Falls Fine Paper Company, and the community that it created. The day will include a tour of the mill where you will see all phases of production and learn the history of the mill. This will be followed by a walking tour of Newton Falls, led by a former resident, exploring this largely intact company town. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and Adirondack Museum members and $45 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
Led by Don Papson, president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, this walking tour of Keeseville will include anti-slavery sites and "voices" from the past including: Frederick Douglass's thoughts on slave owners when he lectured in the village in 1843, former Plattsburgh slave Ben Lewis's dying wish for a suit in which to be buried, Wendell Lansing's anti-slavery resolution that divided the Baptists, and the charge "Disunionist!" that prevented black abolistionist lecturer Charles Lennox Remond from being heard in Keeseville. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 4 p.m. There is no fee, thanks to the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission.
During the late 19th century Orrin Clark, along with sons Solomon and Lewis, operated a successful quarry on Ligonier Point in Willsboro, providing "bluestone" for a number of regional buildings, as well as the Champlain Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge. In addition to the quarry the Clarks ran a dairy farm and a shipbuilding business. This tour will visit the quarry remains; the Clarks' homestead, Old Elm; Scragwood, the quarrymaster's house; and the surrounding grounds. These buildings have remained nearly untouched since the Clarks' occupancy, providing a rare view of life at the turn of the century. You will also be able to explore the family's history through extensive documents such as business ledgers, diaries, and photographs all meticulously organized in a private collection. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society members and $45 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
Travel by foot and boat with Mary Hotaling, who will lead one of our most popular tours of two turn-of-the-century Great Camps on Upper Saranac Lake, both designed by William L. Coulter (1865- 1907) and his firm. The tour will include Prospect Point, Eagle island, and a slide lecture by Mary Hotaling. This is a rare opportunity to see some of the best rustic architecture in the region. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at around 4 p.m. The fee is $45 for AARCH members and $55 for non-members. TOUR FILLED
Monaco began drawing at an early age. He attended Pratt Institute in New York City, and later, worked for MGM studios in Hollywood. During World War II, Arto designed and constructed "Annadorf," a faux German village in the hills north of Los Angeles where American soldiers experienced, prior to going to war, the cultural ambience and the dangers of a German town. After the war, he created Santa's Workshop on the slopes of Whiteface Mountain not far from his studio in Upper Jay. This pioneering theme park opened in 1947. During the early 1950s, Arto built the Land of Makebelieve in Upper Jay. Everything was scaled for children who were encouraged to explore the park as their parents relaxed nearby. Join us on this behind-the-scenes tour of Santa's Workshop and the Land of Makebelieve led by Jane Mackintosh, AARCH vice president. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society members and $50 for non-members. Lunch is included. TOUR FILLED
This is an exciting opportunity to participate in AARCH's first ever mystery tour. We won't tell you where we're going, but we can promise that it is a place AARCH has never toured before. It will be exciting and we will explore wonderful architecture and history. The tour will begin at 10 a.m. and end around 3 p.m. The fee is $40 and is open to AARCH members only. TOUR FILLED
Farming has been important to the Champlain valley for more than two centuries. On this southern Clinton County tour, we will explore a series of homesteads and farms from the early 19th century to the present day, which will collectively show how farming has changed over time. We'll visit the Keese Homestead (circa 1795) and Miller Homestead (1822) built by Quaker settlers in a community called The Union. We'll also visit Forrence Orchards, one of the largest McIntosh orchards in the state. At Clover Mead Farm, we'll see how organic cheese is made and sample their exceptional line of farm-fresh products. Led by AARCH's Steven Engelhart, the tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $45 for non-members.
Rooted in the progressive movements of the late 19th and early 20th century, children's summer camps reached their peak of development in the 1920s and 30s. Whether promoting equal opportunity for girls, experiential learning opportunities in an outdoor setting, or serving as recreational boarding schools, these camps were often a child's first introduction to the world of nature and outdoor recreation. This walking and boat tour will explore the architecture and history of three sites that exhibit the evolution of camps over the past century: Pyramid Life, Southwoods, and Word of Life. The tour will be led by Hallie Bond, curator of the Adirondack Museum's 2003 exhibit, "A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Children's Camps in the Adirondacks," and co-author of the book of the same title. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH and Essex County Historical Society $50 for non-members. Lunch is included. TOUR FILLED
This outing will explore the extraordinary architecture, historic sites, and landscapes found along the Dudley Road in Westport. It will include: Camp Dudley, the oldest boys' summer camp in the United States in continuous operation (founded 1885); Barber Point Lighthouse (1873); Kenjockety, a Prairie-style camp complex with extensive gardens; Skenewood, a 1904 brick colonial revival residence; an 1816 one-room, stone schoolhouse; and several farms. The tour will be led by AARCH board member Bill Johnston, and begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $30 and is open only to AARCH sponsors, benefactors, and patrons.
In the early 20th century yearly flooding of the Sacandaga and Hudson Rivers caused extreme damage to the communities located in the Sanandaga valley, which then included a significant amusement park, a rail line, and a number of cottages. In an attempt to manage the rivers, the valley was evacuated and the Conklingville Dam was built 1930, filling the valley with billions of gallons of water creating the Great Sacandaga Lake. Local resident and AARCH member Willem Monster will tell the story of Sacandaga Park and the resort community that once was, and how the valley came to be hidden beneath the Great Sacandaga Lake. We will travel from the former Fulton, Johntown & Gloversville train station to the Conklingville dam, exploring the use of dams to regulate water flow and the effect on the surrounding environs. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and $45 for non-members. |
