Camp Topridge | |
Location | S of Keese Mills Rd., Upper St. Regis Lake, Keese Mill, New York |
---|---|
Coordinates | 44°25′01″N74°17′55″W / 44.417°N 74.2985°W |
Area | 105 acres (42 ha) |
Built | 1923 |
Built by | Muncil, Benjamin |
Architect | Blake, Theodore |
Architectural style | Adirondack rustic |
MPS | Great Camps of the Adirondacks TR |
NRHP reference No. | 86002952 [1] |
Added to NRHP | November 7, 1986 |
Camp Topridge is an Adirondack Park Great Camp bought in 1920 and substantially expanded and renovated in 1923 by Marjorie Merriweather Post, former owner of General Foods and the daughter of C. W. Post. The "camp", near Keese Mill, in the U.S. state of New York, was considered by Post to be a "rustic retreat"; it consisted of 68 buildings, including a fully staffed main lodge and private guest cabins, each staffed with its own butler. It was one of the largest of the Adirondack great camps and possibly the most elaborately furnished. [2]
The camp had 207 acres (84 ha) and was situated on an esker between the Spectacle Ponds and Upper St. Regis Lake, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Saranac Lake, New York. The estate was designed by local builder Ben Muncil in collaboration with New York architect Theodore Blake. [3]
As originally built, the property could only be reached by water, though a driveway was added in later years. Guests arrived by floatplane or Post's boat at a private dock, and thence via funicular to the main building at the top of the ridge. Three times each week, guests would gather in the 65-by-50-foot (20 by 15 m) living room where full-length movies could be screened; an adjoining dining room seated thirty guests. Many of the original furnishings of the room, which included an extensive collection of American Indian artifacts, are now in the Smithsonian Institution. Among the many elaborate structures on the property is a Russian dacha built for Post's third husband, who had served as ambassador to the Soviet Union.
The staff would arrive from Keese Mills Road in Paul Smiths and drive around the water and leave their cars in a parking lot, now used as public parking for the trail to Saint Regis Mountain; the trailhead is near the private property line of Camp Topridge. From the parking lot, staff would walk a hilly, unpaved path into the workers' side of the camp. In the early 1970s, this unpaved path was widened and became suitable for one-way car traffic. Prior to the paving, vehicles could only be driven over the ice in the winter.
Post's guests would arrive at Saranac Airport (in Lake Clear), often in her private Vickers Viscount, the Merriweather. They would be driven to a launch which would take them to one of the boat houses. From there, they could either take the stairs or ride a covered, six-person electronic lift or funicular, installed for Post's aunt Molly Post, who suffered from heart trouble. For years, the caretaker of the camp and his wife would feed lunch to staff in a dining room in the caretaker's home.
Post bequeathed the property to the State of New York. [2] The main lodge, most of the buildings and 105 acres (42 ha) were offered for sale, while the remaining acreage became part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Roger Jakubowski purchased the camp in 1985 for $911,000. [4] It is now owned by Texas real estate magnate Harlan Crow, who purchased it in 1994 when Jakubowski went bankrupt. [5] Crow has substantially restored the buildings and added several new ones. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. [1]
As reported by ProPublica in 2023, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is one of Crow's regular guests, spending a week each summer at Topridge for the past two decades. One of the decorations at the lodge is a photo-realistic painting by Sharif Tarabay of Thomas, Crow, and lawyers Peter B. Rutledge, Leonard Leo and Mark Paoletta lounging in Adirondack chairs at the lodge in 2018. [6] [7]
Brighton is a town in Franklin County, New York, United States. The population was 1,435 at the 2010 census. It was named after Brighton, England, by early surveyors in the region.
Marjorie Merriweather Post was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and the owner of General Foods Corporation. For much of Marjorie Post's life, she was known as the wealthiest woman in the United States.
The Adirondack Park is a 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.
Great Camp Sagamore is one of several historic Great Camps located in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State.
List of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Franklin County, New York
The Santanoni Preserve was once a private estate of approximately 13,000 acres (53 km2) in the Adirondack Mountains, and now is the property of the State of New York, at Newcomb, New York.
The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, where they could relax, host or attend parties, and enjoy the wilderness. In time, however, this was accomplished without leaving the comforts of civilization behind; some great camps even contained a bowling alley or movie theatre.
Adirondack Architecture refers to the rugged architectural style generally associated with the Great Camps within the Adirondack Mountains area in New York. The builders of these camps used native building materials and sited their buildings within an irregular wooded landscape. These camps for the wealthy were built to provide a primitive, rustic appearance while avoiding the problems of in-shipping materials from elsewhere.
Benjamin A. Muncil was an American master builder in the Adirondacks early in the 20th century. He was a major figure in the architectural development of the Adirondack Great Camps; among his many projects was Marjorie Merriweather Post's Camp Topridge, Northbrook Lodge, and White Pine Camp, a summer White House of US President Calvin Coolidge.
Upper St. Regis Lake is a 742-acre (3.00 km2) lake, part of the St. Regis River in the Adirondacks in northern New York State. Along with Lower St. Regis Lake and Spitfire Lake, it became famous in the late 19th century as a summer playground of America's power elite, drawn to the area by its scenery and Paul Smith's Hotel. It is the site of many old summer "cottages" and Great Camps, including Marjorie Merriweather Post's Topridge. Frederick W. Vanderbilt, Anson Phelps Stokes and Whitelaw Reid were among the summer residents. "The camps of many of these families began as tent colonies, with separate units for sleeping, dining, games, and so on, and evolved into permanent structures built with understated taste."
Lower Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. With Middle Saranac Lake and Upper Saranac Lake, a 17-mile (27 km) paddle with only one portage is possible. The Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground provides 87 campsites on inlands in Lower and Middle Saranac Lake. In addition to the Saranac River, it is fed by nearby Lake Colby, Fish Creek, and Lilly Pad Pond. Lower Saranac Lake is located in the town of Harrietstown, New York. The lake, along with both Upper and Middle Saranac Lakes, is also part of the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which begins in Old Forge, NY and ends in Fort Kent, ME.
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.
Begun in 1882, Camp Wild Air was the first permanent camp on Upper Saint Regis Lake, in the town of Brighton, Franklin County in New York's Adirondacks. The camp was built by New York Herald Tribune publisher Whitelaw Reid on a 29-acre (12 ha) peninsula accessible only by water. It presently consists of 12 buildings, 10 of which were built before 1931.
Moss Ledge is an Adirondack Great Camp designed by William L. Coulter in 1898 for Isabel Ballantine of New York City. Ballantine was the granddaughter of Newark beer baron, John Holmes Ballantine.
Prospect Point Camp is an Adirondack Great Camp notable for its unusual chalets inspired by hunting lodges. William L. Coulter's design is a significant example of the Adirondack Rustic style. It is located on a bluff overlooking the northern reaches of Upper Saranac Lake, near Eagle Island Camp and Moss Ledge, two other Coulter designs. Its grand scale is typical of the opulent camps of the area in the great camp era. The camp was built for New York copper magnate and financier Adolph Lewisohn.
Between 1873 and 1945, Saranac Lake, New York, became a world-renowned center for the treatment of tuberculosis, using a treatment that involved exposing patients to as much fresh air as possible under conditions of complete bed-rest. In the process, a specific building type, the "cure cottage", developed, built by residents seeking to capitalize on the town's fame, by physicians, and often by the patients themselves. Many of these structures are extant, and their historic value has been recognized by listing on The National Register of Historic Places.
Keese Mill—better known locally as Keese's Mills, but also spelled as Keeses Mill and Keeses Mills—is a hamlet west of Paul Smiths in the Town of Brighton, Franklin County, New York, United States, in the Adirondacks. It is named for a settlement established by employees of the two sawmills established by Keese and Tomlinson near their dam on the outlet of Lower St. Regis Lake Saint Regis River in mid-nineteenth century.
The Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium was a tuberculosis sanatorium established in Saranac Lake, New York in 1885 by Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau. After Trudeau's death in 1915, the institution's name was changed to the Trudeau Sanatorium, following changes in conventional usage. It was listed under the latter name on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Debar Pond Lodge is a historic Great Camp and national historic district located within the Adirondack Forest Preserve at Duane in Franklin County, New York. The camp was designed by William G. Distin and built about 1940. The main lodge is a rambling two-story, Rustic style building of light-frame construction with an exterior veneer of half and full round logs. The interior features a centrally located, two-story Great Room. Also on the property are the contributing boathouse; a guide house/garage; a generator house; a barn; a shed; a greenhouse and potting shed; and stone posts which mark the associated stone-lined walkway to the lodge's principal entrance. The property was privately owned until 2004, and is now a part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and under the management and control of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Northbrook Lodge on Osgood Pond is a historic camp located within the Adirondack Forest Preserve in Paul Smiths in Franklin County, New York. The camp complex was built by noted great camp builder Benjamin A. Muncil for Canadian Senator Wilfrid Laurier McDougald Construction took circa 1925. Contributing resources in the camp complex include a small stone electrical building; covered canoe slips; pumphouse; stone bridge ; guideboat house; tennis cottage and court; dining room; kitchen; breezeway; library; shuffleboard court; Marcy cabin; boathouse; Gabriels cabin; Main cabin; Whiteface cabin; and Fairfield / staff house. The buildings exhibit American Craftsman style architectural influences. Northbrook Lodge was operate as a summer resort until 2009 and is now privately owned.