031031 VLP Santanoni.Qxd
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
began buying up land in the wilds of the Adirondacks outside Newcomb in southern Essex County, he and Manhattan architect (and college Santanoni roommate) Robert H. Robertson took a truly unique approach to designing the buildings on what would later A Japanese retreat become the Santanoni Preserve, named for the mountain peak in whose shadow the curious Great in the rustic Adirondacks Camp was established. Using native materials, local crafts- By Lee Manchester, Lake Placid News, October 31, 2003 men, and building techniques already proven in the construction of hunting NEWCOMB — Once upon a time, ambassador to the Land of the Rising and logging camps throughout the a boy from Albany accompanied his Sun, a country that had been opened Adirondack forest, Pruyn and father on a long, long journey to the to the West just 8 years before by Robertson designed structures reflect- ancient kingdom of Nippon, far Commodore Perry. The young Bertie ing the Japanese temples and Imperial across the sea. spent a year with his father in Edo retreats that had so impressed them- The boy’s name was Robert C. (now known as Tokyo), living in the selves upon young Bertie. Pruyn, or Bertie for short. priest’s quarters of a temple. Camp Santanoni stayed in the It was 1862 when Bertie’s father, That experience remained with Pruyn family for many years, serving Robert Hewson Pruyn, was sent to Pruyn all his life. as a retreat for guests like then- Japan as Abraham Lincoln’s second Thirty years later, when Pruyn Governor Teddy Roosevelt. Pruyn Paul Malo painted this watercolor from architectural drawings to show the Japanese “ho-o-den” form of the Main Lodge at Camp Santanoni, stretched out like a phoenix on the shore, poised to take wing over Newcomb Lake. established a model farm on the pre- like. The camp has become a favorite lodge is its entry arch, covered by a serve, more for the challenge than for destination for cross-country ski trips steep-peaked roof. its agricultural production. Following sponsored each winter by the nearby “All the traffic into Santanoni was the 1929 stock market collapse, Adirondack Park Visitors Interpretive directed through this monumental Robert Pruyn fell ill and Santanoni Center as well as the Adirondack arch,” Engelhart said of the structure entered a long period of decline, Mountain Club. above him, which was sheltering the though still used by Pruyn’s heirs tour group from the rain. through the 1940s. The Gate Lodge “When this was built, visitors to In 1953 the preserve was bought by We visited Camp Santanoni earlier Santanoni would have taken the rail- Myron and Crandall Melvin of this month on what turned out to be road from Albany to North Creek, Syracuse, who methodically restored the first chilly weekend of autumn. A where they were picked up by a many of Santanoni’s historic build- light rain fell throughout the day, but horse-drawn coach for an 11- or 12- ings. A tragedy involving a young the dozen guests who’d gathered hour ride over the rough Carthage Melvin relative in 1972, however, led under the arched entryway of the pre- Road,” Engelhart said. “This arch was the family to abandon the property. In serve’s Gate Lodge for a tour by meant to say to them, ‘You have cooperation with the Nature Steven Engelhart, AARCH’s execu- arrived’ — even though they still had Conservancy, the Melvins conveyed tive director, were dressed for the a ride ahead of them of nearly 5 miles the estate into the hands of the people weather. to the Main Camp.” of New York. The Gate Lodge, Engelhart “Arrived,” indeed! For nearly 20 years after its acqui- explained, was one of the last struc- sition by the state, the future of Camp tures to be built on the Santanoni The farm complex Santanoni remained uncertain. Preserve. Erected in 1905, it was one The walk up the main carriage road In 1990, a group of preservationists of the earliest projects of the architec- through the Santanoni Preserve was a formed an organization called tural firm of Delano & Aldrich, which particularly lovely one, even in the Adirondack Architectural Heritage — later went on to prominence for the early October chill of a light rain. called AARCH (pronounced like country homes they designed on Long Soon, however, the woods lining “arch”) for short — whose first goal Island. For this job, however, they either side of the road opened up, and was to secure recognition for were chosen primarily for their sensi- before us stood the core of Bertie Santanoni as a historic district within tivity to the natural surroundings. Pruyn’s experimental farm complex: the state’s Forest Preserve. The primary feature of the stone a large, shingled, three-level barn to Governor Mario Cuomo finally signed on to the preservation of Santanoni in the fall of 1991. A state unit management plan was developed that classified the areas around the Great Camp’s architectural core and experimental farm as historic sites, thus allowing for the preservation of structures within the Forest Preserve. AARCH has taken on the task of restoring and interpreting the camp for visitors in partnership with the town of Newcomb and the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Today 8,000 to 10,000 visitors pass through Santanoni each year. AARCH conducts monthly tours of Santanoni’s historic structures throughout the summer, but visitors are welcome to hike or ski the 9.8- mile round trip from the gatehouse, located just off the main highway through Newcomb, whenever they The Gate Lodge. the right, a stone creamery to the left, and three houses for Santanoni’s farm workers behind it on a gently rising hill. The large, shingled barn, built in 1895, is a thing of beauty in itself. No longer standing are the outbuildings once found behind it, housing chick- ens, pigs and geese around an open courtyard. In the lowest level of the barn, looking out to the rear at ground level, can still be found an array of 15 small stalls for dairy cattle, equipped for cleanliness as well as the animals’ comfort. The small Jersey cows stood not on concrete, but on beds made from cork bricks. Engelhart recounted a story told to one of AARCH’s resident summer interns by a very elderly Rowena Ross Putnam, daughter of Santanoni herdsman George Ross, when she returned once as a visitor to the pre- serve. “As a girl it had been lonely for Rowena, living way out here in the forest,” Engelhart said. “She told our intern about how she would strap on a pair of roller skates on a rainy day like this and skate on the concrete around and around the cattle stalls, making up a song as she skated that included the names of all the cows, touching each one of them as she named them. “That’s one of the neat things about operating a site like this,” Engelhart continued, “getting to know so many of the people who were once associat- ed with the farm and the preserve. “The family of Charlie Petoff, Santanoni’s head gardener, comes here every year for a reunion, and they have told us about the fairly exotic foods he grew here for the Pruyns: cantaloupes, melons, things you wouldn’t normally expect to grow in this climate. He took great pride, his descendants say, in working that kind of magic. “I would like to think that, one day, all of these buildings would be Three of the five buildings comprising the Santanoni Farm Complex (top to bottom): restored, and they would be interpret- the cow barn, the creamery, and the gardener’s cottage. ed by the descendants of those who lived and worked here,” Engelhart If the Pruyn family photo albums at the pace we’ve been going, it will said. are any indication, the Santanoni vis- take forever! Realistically, though, we Pruyn’s experimental farm was itor’s experience of a century ago was have about a decade’s work still developed with the idea of making the one of “gaiety, hilarity,” Engelhart ahead of us.” Santanoni Preserve a self-sufficient observed, “especially for women. retreat in the depths of the This was a place where they could be THOSE WHO want to read up on Adirondack forest. This “self-suffi- rid of some of the Victorian restric- Camp Santanoni before their visit are cient” farm, however, cost Pruyn any- tions that hemmed them in so in encouraged to buy “Santanoni: From where between $15,000 and $20,000 ‘polite society.’ “ Japanese Temple to Life at an a year to operate, above and beyond Today, Santanoni is quietly impres- Adirondack Great Camp.” The 234- any income it generated and the value sive, a piece of the Adirondack past page paperback coffeetable book, of the goods it produced for the Pruyn that’s been rescued from neglect and filled with photographs, tells the story family. decay. of how this unique camp was built “We’ve just spent $120,000 on an and how AARCH and other preserva- High Peaks ho-o-den architectural survey of the entire tionists joined forces to ensure its sur- From the core of the experimental property,” Engelhart told the tour vival. Published by AARCH in 2000, farm it was another 3 or 4 miles’ walk group. “We have drawings of every- the book retails for $24.95 at local up the carriage road, surrounded by thing, and we know what kind of bookstores, or you can buy it directly woods, to the Main House at work needs to be done to restore the from Adirondack Architectural Santanoni, perched on the shore of buildings still standing.” Heritage.