Bowling with the Vanderbilts
"Roughing it" means different things to different people. To the Vanderbilts and their contemporaries, it meant staying in the woods . . . in luxurious Great Camps. These sprawling camps -- many built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries -- covered acres of prime forest real estate, with lots of beautifully crafted buildings to accommodate them (hot water and indoor plumbing included, of course!). Several still stand today, and there are remnants of others.
One Great Camp you can visit is the rustic, deserted Camp Santanoni in Newcomb, just north of Route 28N (tel. 518/834-9328). Its 45 buildings are spread out over 12,900 acres. There are no furnishings anymore, and the buildings are closed to the public, but you come here to enjoy the beautiful architecture from the outside in this serene, mysterious setting. The camp is open year-round, but there's a catch: You have to hike or ski 5 miles to get here. Guided tours are seldom offered, but interpreters are on-site from late June through August.
Great Camp Sagamore, 4 miles south of Raquette Lake (tel. 315/354-5311; www.sagamore.org), lets you see how the Vanderbilts went camping. Their 27-building summer retreat for more than 50 years even included a bowling alley. Tours are offered daily from late June to Labor Day at 10am or 1:30pm, daily from Labor Day to mid-October at 1:30pm, and weekends from Memorial Day to late June at 1:30pm.
The two camps are about 40 miles apart; on these winding roads, that could take some time to drive, so don't expect to see both in the same day, especially with the hiking involved to see Santanoni. Great Camp Sagamore is about 17 miles west of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, and Santanoni about 25 miles east.
