Great Camp Santanoni in Newcomb, NY.
Hike, bike, ski or snowshoe to experience an outstanding example of Adirondack rustic architecture.
Photos courtesy Great Camp Santaoni
Great Camp Santanoni is located within the 13,000-acre Santanoni Preserve, established in the 1890s by Robert and Anna Pruyn, a prominent couple in Albany. Santanoni is one of the earliest of the Great Camps that the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Morgans, and other giants of the Gilded Age built in the Adiriondack Park as lavish wilderness playgrounds.
Main Camp from Newcomb Lake
However, the Pruyns were interested in creating a family retreat to pursue outdoor adventures and establish a working farm employing modern agriculture methods. In addition, Robert Pruyn was an admirer of traditional Japanese architecture (he lived there when his father was Abraham Lincoln's minister to Japan).
Pruyn wanted to apply the principles he admired in Japanese design to the Camp at Santanoni, such as the common roof and porch system connecting all the buildings.
The Camp Santanoni campus.
Three groups of buildings make up Camp Santanoni. At the entrance to the Camp, just outside of Newcomb, NY, is The Gatehouse Complex, housing staff in eight bedrooms, a caretaker's home, and various outbuildings.
The Gatehouse is constructed with beautiful stonework and a handsome gateway arch. A mile beyond the Gatehouse sits the Farm Complex, with several ginormous barns, farmhouses, more housing for staff and workers, a stone creamery, workshop, chicken house, kennels, smokehouse, root cellar, and other service buildings.
Another four miles further down the camp road, one arrives at the Main Camp and Newcomb Lake. The main lodge consisted of six separate buildings – a central living and dining lodge with two bedrooms upstairs, four sleeping cabins with six bedrooms, and a kitchen and service building with seven staff bedrooms – all connected by a common roof and porch system. One thousand five hundred trees were used in the log construction.
More than 45 buildings make up the complex. Santanoni remained in the Pruyn family's hands until the 1950s. It later passed into another family's hands. The state of New York eventually acquired it and incorporated it into the State Forest Preserve. The Camp sat idle for over 20 years until the early '90s when preservationists stepped in to restore it to its magnificent glory.
Gatehouse complex
You can visit Santanoni year-round, but the buildings are only open during the summer months.
Visitors need to know: Only the gate lodge is accessible by car. The farm and main lodge must be reached by foot, bicycle, ski, or snowshoe, depending on the season, via a well-maintained historic carriage road.
It's a nearly 10-mile hike roundtrip in and out of the Camp. During the summer, there is an ADA-accessible wagon. Definitely check out the details on Great Camp Santanoni's website.
Don't be discouraged, though, by the hike. It's a trip that's well worth the time and effort. Many experts believe Santanoni is one of the most outstanding examples of Adirondack rustic architecture and a place to be treasured.
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