The Great Camp, as it was termed in the more colorful periods of Adirondack history, usually meant the summer homes of the rich with luxurious layouts where "roughing it" was a phrase without much meaning. Attracted by the handsome, rustic colors and the endless forests at a time when the wilderness was fast disappearing, the millionaires of the Industrial Age descended upon the Adirondack Mountain region of upstate New York to build their summer retreats. Included were the Vanderbilt's, Rockefellers, Posts and other New York aristocratic notables. What began with lean-to sheds and platform tents used by gentlemen hunters and fishermen evolved into great mansions built of locally obtained log and stone. With this evolution wives, children, servants, and trainloads of wealthy visitors came north to "rough it." The era of the Great Camps had begun.

Those who came accepted the challenges of the hostile Adirondack environment as they built their private retreats. These retreats often became even more elaborate and complex than those of Newport and Saratoga. The camps were self-contained and self-sufficient requiring huge year-round staffs to maintain the operations. Some grew their own food and raised their own livestock. Many of the camps had their own schools and churches. One was even serviced by a private railway.

Comfort and luxury coexisted with a vague concept of "roughing it." With the help of local craftsmen utilizing materials indigenous to the area, the Great Camp builders succeeded in creating a style of their own with a mixture of logs, native stone, decorative work of twigs and branches, and splashes of color, usually red or green.

The popularity of the Great Camp and their suitability to a wilderness setting stimulated similar constructions in other areas of the United States-the North Woods, the Great Lakes, the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and our own Appalachian Mountains. Later this style translated into the grand lodges at Yellowstone, Glacier, Acadia, Grand Teton, and Rainier National Parks.

The Great Camps thrived during a relatively brief period from 1870 to 1930. The Great Depression of the 1920's forced some to sell or abandon these family compounds. Fortunately, several of the Great Camps survived and are still in existence today-some still owned by the original families.