EJ Latitudes 1/08.qxd - Frontiers Elegant Journeys

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Lake Kora
A LAST “GREAT CAMP OF THE ADIRONDACKS” — for the
first time offering a limited number of rentals to families
and small groups.
An Adirondack "wikiup"
for comfortable campfires
During “the Gilded Years” between 1870 and 1930, long before the days
of air conditioning and 25 percent income tax, the Adirondacks topped
the fashionable summer-place-to-be list. The industrialists, leading politicians,
and other movers and shakers of the era wanted to escape the
summer heat of the cities so they (including J.P. Morgan, the Vanderbilts,
the Astors and the Rockefellers) began building what became known as
the Adirondack Great Camps.
To call these amazing compounds a “camp” is akin to calling a 1982 Lafite
Rothschild “a red wine.” As Harvey Kaiser writes in his book Great Camps
of the Adirondacks, “These ‘Great Camps’ were to the beautiful and
secluded Adirondack region what the ‘Cottages’ were to Newport; contradictions
in terminology, but marvels of construction and architectural
imagination.” Do not envision a single building, cabin or simple dwelling;
the Great Camps were more like a small village and often included main
residences, guest cabins, dining halls, two-storied boathouses and playhouses
as well as separate staff quarters. It’s hard to imagine the amazing
number of people that worked in the blacksmith and carpentry shops,
dairy, stables, gardens, and kitchen. It was not unusual for the staff to outnumber
guests by four to one.
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