Volume 14, Number 1 Summer 2005 Tours, Workshops & Special Events Windy Cliff, the former home of cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, will be visited on our Otis Mountain Camps tour on September 1st. This year marks the fifteenth year that we exemplary 20th-century buildings at have offered tours and workshops that North Country School; and a trip on the explore some of the most interesting Weatherwax to historic Crab Island on architecture and communities in the Lake Champlain. In cooperation with the region. From an initial offering of five Willsboro Heritage Society, we will offer events in 1991, our schedule has grown to a new workshop, “Prioritizing Restoration include more than 50 events all over the and Repair on Historic Homes.” Adirondacks. These outings serve several important purposes. They are a great way For our annual meeting, we’ll gather on to educate people about the architecture June 25th in Essex to hear Art Cohn, of the region. Participants get to see some director of the Lake Champlain Maritime special places with knowledgeable Museum, talk about the lake’s rich guides. For AARCH, through developing maritime history. Tours of the Lois and carrying out these events, we come to McClure, a replica 19th-century sailing know new places, make new friends, and schooner, moored nearby, will follow. learn about important preservation issues. Three special AARCH benefit events are This helps us to be more rooted and more also on tap — a daylong outing to Upper effective in many ways. To all who make Ausable Lake; an afternoon at the this possible, thank you. Adirondack League Club; and music, food, and a silent auction at Wenonah We are repeating many of our most Lodge on Upper Saranac Lake. Our popular outings but are offering many annual awards luncheon will be held on new events as well. These include tours at September 23rd at the restored Woods Inn Chestertown, Batchellerville, and in Inlet. Elizabethtown; an exploration of children’s summer camps on Upper All of these are not to be missed! Chateaugay Lake; a look at some Tours, Workshops & Special Events AARCH's tours, workshops, and special events are led by scholars, professionals, and knowledgeable volunteers. They are enjoyable learning experiences and help to raise funds to support our preservation mission. In planning your outing with us, please keep in mind the following: • Events are filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Our tours are popular and they fill up quickly, so register as soon as possible. The quickest way to register is by telephone. • Advance registration is required with payment due at time of registration. Attendance is limited. Refunds will be given to those not able to attend an event if we are notified at least 48 hours prior to the event date. Send full fee to AARCH, Civic Center, Suite 37, 1790 Main Street, Keeseville, NY 12944. • Some tours require a fair amount of walking or exertion. Be sure you are physically able to participate in the outing as described. For more information call (518) 834-9328. • Our events are held rain or shine. Dress for the variable weather conditions by wearing or bringing proper attire. CAMP SANTANONI: Adirondack Great Camp Sunday, June 12 Explore one of the most magnificent Great Camps with Howie Kirschenbaum and Robert Engel, co- authors of Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp. Santanoni was built for Robert and Anna Pruyn of Albany, beginning in 1892, and the estate eventually included 12,900 acres and nearly four dozen buildings. The tour will include stops at the Gate Lodge, the remains of its 200-acre farm, and the Main Camp on Newcomb Lake. Participants will see restoration work in progress and view some of the camp's interiors. The round-trip walk is 9.8 miles on a gently sloping carriage road. An aerial view of the Main Lodge at Camp Santanoni. The tour begins at 10 a.m. at the parking area of the Santanoni Preserve off Route 28N in the hamlet of Newcomb. We will return about 4 p.m. The fee is $10 command of Benedict Arnold engaged the British for AARCH members and $15 for non-members. A fleet. Although most of the American fleet was sunk limited number of seats are available on a horse- or scuttled, the effort succeeded in holding off the drawn wagon for an additional $15 fee. Note: see British southern advance until the following year, other AARCH tour of Camp Santanoni offered on thereby buying the Americans much needed time. September 3. During the 19th-century, the island was briefly home to a fledgling "free-love" colony and, in 1874, a VALCOUR ISLAND lighthouse was built on it. The island is now part of Monday, June 20 the Forest Preserve and the lighthouse is being restored by the Clinton County Historical Association. The waters surrounding Valcour Island in Lake We will travel by boat to Valcour Island for a four- Champlain were the scene of the Battle of Valcour, an mile interpretive hike. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and important naval battle during the Revolutionary War. ends around 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH Here, in October 1776, a small colonial fleet under the members and $45 for non-members. AARCH 2 Summer 2005 White Pine Camp Tours The 1926 Summer White House of Calvin Coolidge Through the generosity of its owners, AARCH is again hosting tours of this private Great Camp at Paul Smiths New this year on the tour: Restoration of the Alpine Garden Saturdays, July 2 to September 3 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Adults $10, Children $5 A tour of the canal schooner, Lois McClure, will be a highlight of our 2005 Annual Meeting in Essex. Photograph by Eric A. Reservations are not required Bessette. Courtesy of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. AARCH ANNUAL MEETING and Tour of the Lois McClure Valley Grange Hall, where the group will learn about at the Noble Warehouse in Essex identifying architectural styles from Steven Engelhart, Saturday, June 25 AARCH's executive director. Following lunch, the group will walk around the hamlet and look at AARCH's 2005 Annual Meeting will be held in the numerous buildings, ones that exemplify a whole historic hamlet of Essex in the Noble Warehouse, a range of architectural styles from the 19th and early large limestone structure built by Ransom Noble and 20th centuries. The walking tour ends around 4 p.m. Sons, circa 1810, on the shores of Lake Champlain. The workshop fee is $25 for AARCH members and Originally built as a warehouse, the building has also $30 for non-members. been used as a factory, apartments, and movie house. It is now used for summer theater productions and as a Masonic Hall. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. and will THE SECRETS OF CRAB ISLAND include a feature presentation, “A Window into the Wednesday, July 6 Commercial History of Lake Champlain” by Art Cohn, director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Tiny Crab Island lies in Lake Champlain’s Museum. In addition to conducting our annual Cumberland Bay near Plattsburgh. In September AARCH business, new members will be introduced 1814, American and British forces battled ferociously and 10-year members will be honored. Following the near here on land and water and the American victory meeting, the Lois McClure, a replica canal schooner helped to win the War of 1812. During the battles, built in 2004 by the Maritime Museum, will be open Crab Island had a small American battery and was for tours. The day will end around 4 p.m. The meeting used as a military field hospital and burial ground by is free to AARCH members. As with all of our both sides. More than 125 soldiers are presumed to be events, unless otherwise noted, reservations are buried there. In the early 20th century, several required. commemorative monuments were erected and the island was designated the McDonough National Military Park. We’ll travel aboard the sail ferry KEESEVILLE: What Style Is It? Weatherwax, disembarking to explore the rich history Friday, July 1 of the island, its monuments, and sites with James P. Millard, author of Secrets of Crab Island and Roger This workshop will use historic Keeseville as a Harwood, volunteer caretaker of the island. We will classroom for learning about architectural styles and set sail at 1 p.m. and return at 4 p.m. The fee is $25 the vocabulary of architecture. Beginning at 10 a.m., for AARCH members and $30 non-members. the morning will be spent at the historic Ausable AARCH 3 Summer 2005 SARANAC LAKE: Miner Colonial Museum. Pioneer Health Resort The farm was an Friday, July 8 Special AARCH Benefit Event organizational and technological marvel in Co-sponsored by Historic its day with 300 buildings Saranac Lake (HSL), this on 15,000 acres and 800 tour will be led by Mary employees. In the 20th Hotaling, executive century, the farm evolved director of HSL. It will into the Miner Institute, include many of the which does pioneering buildings and sites that agricultural research and made Saranac Lake livestock breeding there. America's "Pioneer The museum was Health Resort." The established in 1924 in a village's late 19th- and three-story stone early 20th-century history mansion, built to house is closely tied to the Mountain Lodge on Little Moose Lake at the Alice’s collection of art, treatment for tuberculosis Adirondack League Club. furniture, and decorative developed by Dr. Edward objects. The tour begins L.