Knollwood Club
Encyclopedia
Adirondack
__notoc__Adirondack may refer to:*Adirondack Mountains, *Adirondack County, New York, a proposed county in New York...
Great Camp on Shingle Bay, Lower Saranac Lake
Lower Saranac Lake
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 paddle with only one portage is possible. The Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground provides...
, near the village of Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
. It was built in 1899–1900 by William L. Coulter
William L. Coulter
William Lincoln Coulter was an architect who came to Saranac Lake, New York in the spring of 1896 in an effort to cure his tuberculosis, and stayed to design some of the finest Adirondack Great Camps and Cure Cottages in the area...
, who had previously created a major addition to Alfred G. Vanderbilt
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I was an extremely wealthy sportsman and a member of the famous Vanderbilt family of philanthropists. He died on the .-Life:...
's Sagamore Camp. The "club" consisted of a boathouse, "casino", and six identical -story shingle cottages, which were distinguished by unique twig work
Twig work
Twig-work is the term applied to architectural details constructed of twigs and branches, usually peeled, to form decorative motifs in buildings and furniture. The most common instances are found in Adirondack Great Camps, in northern New York State, although examples are also found in the...
facades.
The camp was built for six friends: Elias Asiel (Asiel & Co.), George Blumenthal (Lazard Freres), Max Nathan, Abram M. Stein, Daniel Guggenheim
Daniel Guggenheim
Daniel Guggenheim was an American industrialist and philanthropist, and a son of Meyer Guggenheim.-Biography:...
(American Smelting and Refining), and Louis Marshall (noted constitutional lawyer and framer of the "Forever Wild" clause in the NYS constitution). The choice of Lower Saranac Lake as the site was determined in part by the growing anti-Semitism in America in that period. In 1877, Joseph Seligman
Joseph Seligman
Joseph Seligman was a prominent U.S. banker, and businessman. He has been described as a "robber baron". He was born in Baiersdorf, Germany, emigrating to the United States when he was 18. With his brothers, he started a bank, J. & W. Seligman & Co., with branches in New York, San Francisco, New...
was involved in the most publicized anti-Semitic incident in American history up to that point, being denied entry into the Grand Union Hotel
Grand Union Hotel (Saratoga Springs, New York)
The Grand Union Hotel was located on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, New York. The hotel began as a boarding house, built by Gideon Putnam in 1802, but grew into the world's largest hotel, before it was demolished in 1953....
in Saratoga, New York
Saratoga, New York
Saratoga is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 5,141 at the 2000 census. It is also the commonly used, but not official, name for the neighboring and much more populous city, Saratoga Springs. The major village in the town of Saratoga is Schuylerville which is...
, despite having been a regular guest previously. William West Durant
William West Durant
William West Durant was a designer and developer of camps in the Adirondack Great Camp style, including Camp Uncas, Camp Pine Knot and Sagamore Camp which are National Historic Landmarks. He was the son of Thomas C. Durant, the financier and railroad promoter who was behind the Crédit Mobilier...
owned much of the land bordering the Saranac Lakes, and was more than willing to sell to any and all buyers. As a result, many of the Great Camps and cottages on the Saranac Lakes were built by wealthy Jews.
Bob Marshall
Bob Marshall (wilderness activist)
Robert "Bob" Marshall was an American forester, writer and wilderness activist. The son of wealthy constitutional lawyer and conservationist Louis Marshall, Bob Marshall developed a love for the outdoors as a young child...
, the wilderness activist, and brothers George Marshall
George Marshall (conservationist)
George Marshall was an American economist, political activist, and conservationist. He was an early leader both of The Wilderness Society and later the Sierra Club.-Early life and education:...
, the conservationist,James Marshall (author and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council) and their sister Ruth Marshall Billikopf spent the summers of their youth there, and were greatly influenced by the surroundings.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
was a frequent summer visitor; he was at Knollwood on August 6, 1945 when he heard on the radio that the atom bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
, and it was at Knollwood that he gave his first interview after the event, on August 11.
Sources
- Kaiser, Harvey. Great Camps of the Adirondacks. Boston: David R. Godine, 1982. ISBN 0-87923-308-7.