Carnegie Camp North Point
Encyclopedia
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has 99 miles of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the towns of Long Lake and Arietta,...
in the Adirondack Park in New York. It is one of the original Great Camps
Great Camps
Great camps refer 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...
of the Adirondacks located on Raquette Lake the home to many summer camps of the wealthy built during the Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
.
North Point was designed by Spokane, Washington architect, Kirtland Cutter
Kirtland Cutter
Kirtland Kelsey Cutter was a 20th century architect in the Pacific Northwest and California. He was born in East Rockport, Ohio, as the great-grandson of Jared Potter Kirtland. He studied painting and illustration at the Art Students League of New York. At the age of 26 he moved to Spokane,...
, for Lucy C. Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
's sister-in-law and matriarch of the Carnegie family. It is speculated that Cutter was selected to design the building after Lucy saw the Idaho Building
Idaho Building
Designed by architect Kirtland Cutter for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the Idaho Building was a rustic-design log construction. It was a popular favorite , visited by an estimated 18 million people...
designed by Cutter at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
The Assembly Hall building (left) and Dining Hall (right) with guest rooms above were the primary residences of the camp. Other original buildings included guides' cabins, a boat house, ice house and water tower. The buildings were completed in 1903 and used by the Carnegie family until Lucy's death. The camp was sold by the Carnegie family in 1916.
The North Point Camp was later to become a commercial vacation destination in the 1920s as The North Point Inn and later The North Point Club that encompassed a large complex of nearby cottages and other special purpose buildings. The Assembly Hall and Dining Hall buildings have been maintained as a private residence since the late 1950s.