Great Camps of the Adirondacks - by Harvey H Kaiser (Hardcover)

About the Book

The complete guide to the historic great camps and Adirondack Rustic Style architecture.

Book Synopsis

The greatest rustic homes ever built, inside and out, by the lakes and in the forests of the Adirondacks. Includes the social and architectural history behind each camp and the highlights of design (the windows, verandas, fireplaces, doors, beds, staircases and much more) that makes each one unique.

From the mid-1870s to the late-1930s, Americans including the very wealthiest New Yorkers, sought out the wilderness. The camps they built as private seasonal retreats are distinguished as architectural responses to the Adirondack environment, of buildings blended into the forest and the natural contours of the mountains and lakes--homes built to serve as beautiful complements to the land itself. This was a cohesive approach to building that author Harvey H. Kaiser named Adirondack Rustic Style. It is style that continues to inspire new builders and homeowners today.

The camps, many National Historic Landmarks, include:

-- the multi-building Camp Katia with its boathouse and pier
-- the gable screen of spruce columns of Lady Tree Lodge
-- the architecturally creative, Camp Uncas including a dining hall with massive windows and fireplace
-- Camp Wild Air, only accessible by water on Upper St. Regis Lake
-- the grandest of them all, Camp Sagamore, a self-sufficient family camp in a 1,500-acre preserve

In 1982, Kaiser wrote the first edition of Great Camps of the Adirondacks and helped launch a campaign for the preservation of these architectural treasures. Now, in this new, enlarged edition, preservationists will find a success story. Homeowners and builders will discover page after page of inspiration. All readers will see the history of a region unfold as urban Americans discovered what it meant to leave the city and live with nature.

From the Back Cover

Great Camps of the Adirondacks is the first and foremost guide to historic camps within the spectacular forest preserve of Adirondack Park. When this book was originally published in 1982, it launched a campaign for the preservation of these architectural treasures while also sparking a trend in great camp-inspired home design.
Today, the great camps are all under nonprofit, state, or private control. No longer just the seasonal homes of investment bankers such as Adolph Lewisohn who, 120 years ago, visited his 'Great Camp' with a staff of forty to minister to his guests' comfort in the wilds. Whatever the history and fate of each camp, they speak to us now as homes built to serve as beautiful reflections of the land itself.

Review Quotes

"Great Camps of the Adirondacks is worth its weight in gold, an Adirondack classic that, like its subject, has undergone a renaissance. The beautifully executed book tackles its subject from every angle."--Adirondack Explorer