Ausable Club | |
Location | 137 Ausable Rd., St. Huberts, New York |
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Coordinates | 44°9′7″N73°46′51″W / 44.15194°N 73.78083°W |
Area | 7 acres (28,000 m2) [1] |
Built | 1890 |
Architect | Wilson Brothers & Company |
Architectural style | Queen Anne, Stick/Eastlake |
Website | http://www.ausableclub.org/ |
NRHP reference No. | 05000683 |
Added to NRHP | July 06, 2005 [2] |
The Ausable Club, in St. Huberts, New York, is the name of a club and the clubhouse of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR), which upon the initiative of William George Neilson, formed in 1887 to save the lands around Beede's Hotel from the lumber industry. The Reserve once owned most of the Adirondack High Peaks. The club is also the home of the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, known as A.T.I.S, which developed and still maintains many of the trails to the high peaks. The clubhouse property, also known as St. Hubert's Inn, Beede House, or Beede Heights Hotel, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [1]
Club members have included Harvard president James Conant, clergyman Henry Sloane Coffin, aeronautical engineer Jerome Hunsaker, painter Harold Weston, American statesman John J. McCloy [3] and US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who blazed a trail up nearby Noonmark Mountain that is still in use. Certain Easement Trails on AMR/AC lands are open to the public, with restrictions, and provide access to many of the High peaks trails: Basin Mountain, Mount Skylight, Mount Marcy, Mount Haystack, Mount Colvin, Nippletop Mountain, Dial Mountain, Lower Wolfjaw Mountain, Upper Wolfjaw Mountain, Armstrong Mountain, Gothics, Sawteeth, Saddleback Mountain, Noonmark Mountain, Round Mountain, and Rainbow and Beaver Meadow Falls. [1]
The present clubhouse sits on the 600-acre (240 ha) site of Beede's Hotel, built in 1876. Beede's was one of the first of the Adirondack hotels to cater to wealthy sportsmen eager to escape city life during the summer, a phenomenon that predated the Civil War, but that was greatly accelerated by advances in transportation offered by steam ships and railroads. Beede's was notorious for its austere accommodations, but no less famous for its setting near Upper and Lower Ausable Lakes and the Ausable River, and for its views of Giant and Noonmark Mountains, Sawteeth and Mount Colvin. Guides were available to lead parties up the rocky ravine of the Ausable to lean-to shelters on the lakes, and thence to the high peaks above. [1]
When it became known that the woods around Beede's was going to be timbered by the lumber company which owned them, a prominent Philadelphia mining engineer and summer resident William G. Neilson, secured a two-month option on the property dated September 20, 1886. Neilson approached several friends to join in the purchase of 25,000 acres (100 km2), including the two lakes and nearby mountains. By December 1, 1886, William Neilson, William Alderson, George Burnham, Charles Hinchman, J.W. Fuller, Richard Dale and Edward Howell provided the down payment to secure a two-year warranty deed which was signed by Neilson and Alderson. By October 1887, twenty-nine stockholders had formed a corporation, the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. Although the Reserve prohibited hunting and camping, the land remained open to the public for hiking. The AMR added to its holdings, reaching a peak of 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) in 1910. However, in 1923 and again in 1978, land was sold to the state of New York as part of the Adirondack Park, so that present holdings amount to about 7,000 acres (2,800 ha). [1]
In 1890, Neilson approached his friend Beede, and again, secured a two month option to purchase the Beede Hotel. Neilson then presented the option to the AMR Shareholders who agreed to purchase the Hotel property and form the Keene Heights Hotel Company which was organized to operate as a financially separate entity. In the midst of the sale the building burned to the ground. The Corporation then hired the Philadelphia architectural firm Wilson Brothers & Company to design the St. Hubert's Inn and four months later the new hotel opened as the present structure. At the same time, Neilson purchased the 40 acre- Widow Beede- property which he then donated to the organization. By 1904 due to a Park wide decline in public interest and compounded by the forest fires in 1903, the Hotel proved unprofitable and the Hotel Company was closed in 1904. It is interesting to note that the Reserve had remained profitable. In 1905 the AMR and Hotel Company were reformed as one financial entity and is now known as the Adirondack Mountain Reserve/ Ausable Club. [1]
The clubhouse is a 3+1⁄2-story clapboard building with sparing use of Queen Anne details, arranged in two long blocks joined at a 22.5 degree angle where a large 3-story octagonal porch provides sheltered access to the surrounding views. In addition, a porch runs the full length of the first floor. Protected by its status on the National Register of Historic Places, the building has suffered remarkably little change, inside or out, since it was built. [1]
Keene is a town in central Essex County, New York, United States. It includes the hamlets of Keene, Keene Valley, and St. Huberts, with a total population of 1,144 as of the 2020 census
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205.
The Adirondack Park is a multi-use park in northeastern New York protecting the Adirondack Mountains. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. At 6.1 million acres, it is the largest park in the contiguous United States.
The Adirondack High Peaks are a set of 46 mountain peaks in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state. They have been popular hiking destinations since the late 1920s, when the list of peaks was published in Russell Carson's book Peaks and Peoples of the Adirondacks. Those who have climbed all 46 High Peaks are eligible to join the Adirondack Forty-Sixers club.
Dix Mountain is the sixth highest peak in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Park, and is located roughly on the boundary between the towns of North Hudson and Keene in Essex County, New York. The peak was named in 1837 after John Dix (1798–1879), who was the Secretary of State of New York at the time, and later became the state's governor.
Mount Colvin is the 39th highest peak in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Mountains in the U.S. State of New York. Mount Colvin offers excellent views of a number of other Adirondack High Peaks, most notably the peaks that comprise the Great Range. High Peaks that are readily visible from Colvin include Giant, Rocky Peak Ridge, Upper Wolfjaw, Lower Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Sawteeth, Gothics, Saddleback, Basin, Tabletop, Marcy, Haystack, Redfield, Allen, Nippletop, Dial and Blake.
Tahawus was a village in the Town of Newcomb, Essex County, New York, United States. It is now a ghost town situated in the Adirondack Park. Tahawus is located in Essex County within the unpopulated northern area designated to the town of Newcomb. Tahawus was the site of major mining and iron smelting operations in the 19th century. Although standing as recently as 2005, the last mining facilities have since been demolished and removed.
The Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (A.T.I.S.) is a nonprofit organization based at the Ausable Club in St. Huberts, New York, founded in 1897 first to develop and maintain and later to ensure regular maintenance and consistent marking of the trails in the St. Huberts and Ausable Lakes area of the Adirondack High Peaks. Later, the organization began hiring trail counselors to lead hiking and camping trips, thus expanding its mission to include education on the proper use and enjoyment of the Adirondack wilderness.
The Dix Mountain Wilderness Area is the name previously given to an area of New York's Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Park, and is located in the towns of Elizabethtown, Keene and North Hudson, Essex County. It is roughly bounded on the north by NY 73, on the east by the Adirondack Northway (Interstate 87), on the south by Blue Ridge Road and on the west by Elk Lake Club and Ausable Club lands.
The High Peaks Wilderness Area, the largest Forest Preserve unit in the U.S. state of New York, is located in three counties and six towns in the Adirondack Park: Harrietstown in Franklin County, North Elba, Keene, North Hudson and Newcomb in Essex County and Long Lake in Hamilton County.
Upper Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, in the towns of Santa Clara and Harrietstown, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Upper Saranac Lake is the sixth largest lake in the Adirondacks. With Middle Saranac Lake and Lower Saranac Lake, a 17-mile (27 km) paddle with only one carry is possible. There are 20 primitive campsites accessible by boat available on a first-come basis. Upper Saranac Lake is also known as Sin-ha-lo-nen-ne-pus.
Phelps Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York. The mountain is named after Orson Schofield "Old Mountain" Phelps (1817–1905), who cut the first trail up Mount Marcy and named several of the Adirondack peaks. It is the 32nd highest peak in New York. Phelps Mountain is flanked to the southeast by Table Top Mountain.
Snowy Mountain is a mountain located in Hamilton County, New York. Initially known as 'Squaw Bonnet', its summit is the highest point in the county. While most maps show the elevation as 3899 feet, some suggest that more recent surveys have it as 3904 feet or even 3908 feet.
The Dix Range is a range of mountains in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, southeast of Mount Marcy and the Ausable valley, in northeastern New York State. The Dixes are named for John Adams Dix, then Secretary of State under New York Governor William Marcy, later Senator, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and New York Governor. The only exception to this is the mountain formerly named East Dix, which in 2014 was renamed Grace Peak in honor of Grace Leach Hudowalski (1906–2004), who in 1937 became the ninth person and first woman to climb all 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks.
Hurricane Mountain is a 3,688-foot-tall (1,124 m) mountain near Keene in the north of the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks in New York, United States. It is considered to boast some of the most impressive views of any of the lesser peaks; this is due to its prominence, and because its summit was cleared by Verplanck Colvin in the course of his early survey of the Adirondacks. On a clear day, the length of Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains of Vermont are visible to the east, and many of the High Peaks can be seen to the south through the northwest. There is a disused fire tower on the top.
Noonmark Mountain is a 3,556-foot (1,084 m) mountain near St. Huberts in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks in New York, United States. The prominent peak provides 360-degree views, including the Great Range, the Dix Range, Giant Mountain, the Ausable River valley, and the village of Keene. When seen from the nearby hamlet of Keene Valley, where it dominates the view, the peak of Noonmark Mountain is more or less directly beneath the sun at mid-day.
The Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa – formerly called the Mountain View House – is an historic grand hotel at 101 Mountain View Road in Whitefield, New Hampshire, United States, with claims to dating back to 1865.
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Mount McGregor is a mountain in Saratoga County, New York in the towns of Wilton, Moreau, and Corinth. It is one of the principal peaks of the Palmertown Range.
The Palmertown range is the most easterly of the five great mountain-chains which traverse the great wilderness. The Palmertown range begins on Lake Champlain, near Ticonderoga, and running down on both sides of Lake George, crosses the Hudson above Glen's Falls, and running through the town of Wilton, ends in the high ground of North Broadway, in Saratoga Springs.
Cheyenne Mountain is a triple-peaked mountain in El Paso County, Colorado, southwest of downtown Colorado Springs. The mountain serves as a host for military, communications, recreational, and residential functions. The underground operations center for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was built during the Cold War to monitor North American airspace for missile launches and Soviet military aircraft. Built deep within granite, it was designed to withstand the impact and fallout from a nuclear bomb. Its function broadened with the end of the Cold War, and then many of its functions were transferred to Peterson Air Force Base in 2006.