A Preservation Partnership to Revitalize a Lake Landmark
by Elizabeth (Betsy) Folwell
Most of us are familiar with the great work AARCH does in advocating for community historic preservation, teaching traditional building skills and touring special places across upstate New York. But one other important role the organization plays is to act as fiscal sponsor for groups that preserve landmarks such as fire towers.
In fall 2023 Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) became advisor and fiscal sponsor for a different kind of historic preservation, involving a 75-foot double-decker steamboat built in 1900. Great Camp creator William West Durant commissioned the Tuscarora, which was built by the highly respected firm of A. C. Brown & Sons of Staten Island; materials were shipped by rail and wagon to Steamboat Landing in Blue Mountain Lake for the construction. The Tuscarora operated on Blue Mountain, Eagle and Utowana Lakes until 1929, when paved roads rendered this excursion vessel obsolete.
The story does not end there, and the steamboat’s new role as a comfortable lakeside camp for the Graham family brought the structure into the twentieth century. For the last 25 years, though, the boat has belonged to Peter Halsch and Donna Gingell, who want to save this repurposed relic of the Gilded Age and share its story for a wider audience. With other friends of the Tuscarora they contacted AARCH for assistance. The dual role of transportation and domicile interested AARCH executive director Erin Tobin.
The first grant, to lay the groundwork for relocation and restoration, was from the 1772 Foundation based in Macon, Georgia. The money supported a team from Historic American Engineering Record to document the boat inside and out, up and down, using laser plotting and large format photographs. The site work happened at the end of October 2023, with studio time to create detailed drawings continuing into this spring. These schematics will help in designing a suitable structure that will stabilize the vessel during a mile-long move to a new site on Route 30 in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake. Relaunching the boat is not the plan at this point, but to interpret its role in the history of the region in an attractive and accessible exhibit space.
In April this year the Tuscarora group, through AARCH, received a $5,000 grant from Generous Acts, a program administered by the Adirondack Foundation. According to foundation executive director Cali Brooks, the open-call application process annually invests in nonprofit organizations, schools and municipalities. This year Generous Acts awards mobilized nearly $800,000 in support to a total of 107 organizations doing important work in the North Country.
The money will go toward preparing for the boat’s relocation. “The Tuscarora has been at her on shore berth since 1934 and relocating her now poses a real challenge,” said Peter Halsch. The wooden hull will need support no matter if it travels over land or on the water. Each option poses difficulty.
Adirondack Architectural Heritage is facilitating another Tuscarora grant application from the New York State National Maritime Heritage Subgrant Program, which is administered by the federal government in partnership with New York State. Its mission is preservation of marine structures such as lighthouses and boats,as well as education efforts centered around these community assets. There’s no word yet on the status of the grant, but Tuscarora supporters have already raised more than the $15,000 match required.
For more information visit the Tuscarora Steamboat’s Facebook page. Click here to donate through AARCH in support of the Tuscarora preservation effort.
