FULL: Camp Gabriels: Sanatorium, College Campus, Prison
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Opened by Ogdensburg’s Sisters of Mercy as a tuberculosis curing facility in 1897, the Camp Gabriels complex embodies a deep web of interconnected stories through various operations at the site for over a century. Gabriels stood as the second major curing sanitorium of its time after the pioneering efforts of Saranac Lake’s Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau established the area’s first in 1884. Alongside lending its name to the surrounding community years later, the complex operated as a rehabilitative curing space for tuberculosis and elderly patients until its closure in the early 1960s when nearby Paul Smith’s College purchased it for use as a satellite campus for their forestry program. Nearly two decades later, the college sold the complex to New York State in 1980 for use as a minimum-security prison until its closure in 2009. Today, the site boasts a rich collection of solid masonry and stone buildings, ecclesiastical structures, and other unique architecture that hold a complex history beyond its original use as a curing space. Experience this rare opportunity to explore the multi-layered, historic complex with a group of historians and a former employee at the site, where you will learn about its history, architecture, multiple reuses, its chapter as a carceral facility, and the complexities surrounding its future.
This tour is led by former Camp Gabriels Commissary Clerk Ara Newman; historian, professor, and author of A Prison in the Woods, Clarence Jefferson Hall; our friends from Historic Saranac Lake; our partners from the New York State Office of General Services; and AARCH Educational Programs Director Nolan Cool. The tour begins at 10 AM and ends at 3 PM.
The fee is $70 for AARCH members and $85 for non-members.
Please note that this tour includes roughly a mile of walking and involves navigating some uneven terrain.