Raquette Lake | William West Durant | Great Camps | Clergy | Time Line | Writings | Documents | Bibliography
ST. HUBERT’S ISLE TIME LINE
(click photo for larger image)
(For a superbly detailed Adirondack Chronology beginning with the Big Bang 15 billion years BP click here)
1770s
1771 – Haudenosaunee (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora) sell rights to 1,150,000 acres of wilderness in upstate New York to Joseph Totten and Stephen Crossfield acting for Edward and Ebenezer Jessup, agents of the Crown – King George III of England – for 1,135 pounds
1771 – Totten & Crossfield Purchase includes Township 40 pdf in Hamilton County [1900 map image courtesy Adirondack Museum]
1775 – Revolutionary War begins
1776 – As British are being defeated, Sir John Johnson and troops abandon a pile of raquettes (snowshoes) at what is now know as Raquette Lake
1779 – Ownership of the Totten & Crossfield Purchase passes from King George III of England to the newly created state of New York. The State begins to disperse lands for settlement
1783 – Revolutionary War ends – state willing to resume selling land holdings
1830s
1832 – Government puts priority on trans-continental travel by rail
1835 – First recorded settlement at Raquette Lake on Indian Point
1840s
Dr. Thomas C. Durant
1841 – Thomas C. Durant (1820-1885) graduates from Albany Medical College, chooses to go into business rather than practice medicine
1845 – After practicing as a surgeon for two years, Dr. Durant goes into business, forming Durant, Lathrop & Co. with a relative of Mrs. Elizabeth Lathrop Stott
1847 – Ralph Carmichael’s great-grandfather emigrates from Kilreah Parish, County Derry, Ireland, to Spencerville, Ontario, with his wife and the first four of his nine children
1848 – Sackett’s Harbor and Saratoga Railroad chartered by NYS legislature
1850s
1850 – Birth of William West Durant to Dr. Thomas Clark Durant and Heloise Hannah Timbrel, Brooklyn, NY
1856 – Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), George Pullman and others first present sleeper car idea to Dr. Durant, who later has Union Pacific take a controlling interest in Pullman Inc (1867-1968)
1856 – Dr. Durant hires attorney Abraham Lincoln for a case involving Durant’s Mississippi & Missouri Railroad. Lincoln’s caseload at the time focuses largely on the conflicting transportation interests of river barges and railroads
1860s
1862 – Congress passes Pacific Railroad Act leading to creation of Union Pacific Railroad
1862 – President Lincoln calls Dr. Durant to Washington to oversee construction of the Union Pacific Railroad line to Utah
1863 – With Thomas Durant as vice-president of the Union Pacific RR and engineer -in-charge of the project, first rails laid at Council Bluffs, Iowa, for the eastern terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad
1863 – Adirondack Company formed from the Sackett’s Harbor and Saratoga Railroad, later reorganized as the Adirondack Railway Company
1869 – Joining of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts with the completion of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads at Promontory Summit, Utah. Golden Spike ceremony on 10 May includes organizer Dr. Durant (UP) and Leland Stanford (CP). Collis P. Huntington (CP) did not attend
1870s
1870 – Cyrus Kellog, Raquette Lake resident, builds North Point camp for a party by the name of Taylor who decide against purchasing
1870 – Dr. Durant returns to Albany to become President of the Adirondack Company, bringing with him Henry Caleb Crane from Union Pacific (later of Crane’s Point on Blue Mountain Lake) and C.E. Durkee up from the NY Central office
1871 – Dr. Durant and Leland Stanford, DBA the Adirondack Company, extend railroad over 40 miles from Saratoga Springs to North Creek; in return the State gives them over 700,000 acres in the Adirondack wilderness including Blue Mountain, Eagle and Utowana Lakes and much of the north shore of Raquette Lake
1871 – Dr. Durant builds home in North Creek, soon retires there due to poor health
1872 – Cyrus Kellog sells North Point camp to James Ten Eyck, Albany businessman
1874 – Adirondack Survey by Verplanck Colvin shows the Henry Caleb Crane home on Blue Mountain Lake (formerly Tallow Lake), site still known as Crane’s Point
1874 – Dr. Durant sends for son William, 24 and an artist travelling in North Africa, to manage his land holdings
1874 – Miles Tyler Merwin expands his log cabin Blue Mountain House to accommodate more visitors
1876 – William West Durant first visits Raquette Lake
1876 – Camp built at North Point on Raquette Lake by Dr. Seward Webb
1876 – Dr. Thomas Durant convinces friend and business associate (and William’s future father-in-law) Francis Horatio Stott (1832-1900) of Stottville to begin construction of summer home on Bluff Point
1876 – Dr. Thomas Durant begins Camp Pine Knot on Long Point with just a few rough cabins
Drawn by Verplanck Colvin
1877 – State of New York Adirondack Survey by Verplanck Colvin, Superintendent, measured on the ice of Raquette Lake in February
1877 – Private camps and small hostelries begin to appear on Raquette Lake including Chauncey Hathorn on Golden Beach, Josiah Woods on Woods Point and Ike Kenwell on Tioga Point
1877 – Three-story Ordway House (also known as the American Hotel) built on Prospect Point, Blue Mountain Lake, by James and Mary Ordway
Stagecoach in New Zealand
1878 – WW Durant opens “4 and 6 Overland Company”, a stagecoach line from North Creek RR station to Blue Mountain Lake, 30 miles of rough dusty rutted road. Adirondack Stagecoach Company also runs covered wagons with four-horse and six-horse teams, same route as old Route 28/30, portion still visible north of Lake Durant
1879 – Explosion of visitors to the Adirondacks, many hotels open
1879 – Ordway House on Blue Mountain Lake purchased by Frederic C. Durant, nephew of Dr. Thomas C. Durant, runs it summer of 1880 before attaching it to his new hotel Prospect House in 1881
1879 – WW Durant takes over building of Camp Pine Knot, first artistic great camp, construction continues through 1890s
Camp Fairview photo by Alonzo Mix
1879 – Charles Durant, nephew of railroad magnate Dr. Thomas Durant, builds Camp Fairview on Osprey Island, first of three twin-towered camps in the Raquette Lake area (followed by Camp Cedars 1880 and Echo Camp 1883)
1879 – William West Durant dams Marion River to allow steamboat travel from Blue Mountain Lake on through Eagle and Utowana Lakes
Stoddard photo Killoquah No. 1 1879-1891
1879 – William West Durant launches small steamers Killoquah on Raquette Lake and Towahloondah on Blue Mountain Lake. The Killoquah is canopied and seats about 20 passengers
Early steamer ticket 1879-1899
1879 – WW Durant forms Raquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake Steamboats with CE Durkee as General Passenger Agent [misprint on ticket, should read Kenwell’s, a steamer dock and site of former hotel on what is now Tioga Point]
1879 – WW Durant begins steamboat travel between Blue Mountain Lake and Raquette Lake using horse-drawn wagons to carry baggage over the carry while people walk. He briefly considers a canal with locks, then surveys for railroad line
1879 – December – William West Durant approaches Bishop Doane of Albany about establishing a mission church in Raquette Lake, none within 25 miles. Doane sends out letter asking for support
1880s
1880 – February – Request for pledges to new church sent out by William West Durant, Warden, and John Boyd Thacher (future mayor of Albany), Treasurer
1880 – WW Durant chooses design by esteemed architect Josiah Cleveland Cady for Mission of the Good Shepherd. Construction observed in August by Nessmuk as he paddled past the Island
1880 – William West Durant finances Mission of the Good Shepherd on St. Hubert’s Isle with help from Francis Stott of Bluff Point, long-time summer resident J Harvey Ladew of NYC and former Governor Lounsbury of Connecticut, future owner of Camp Echo
1880 Stoddard photo Church in the Adirondacks
designed in ‘stick style’ by Josiah Cleveland Cady
1880 – Seneca Ray Stoddard hired by his friend William West Durant to photograph new Island Church
1880 – William West Durant installs telegraph from North Creek through Indian Lake and Blue Mountain Lake to Camp Pine Knot on Raquette Lake
1880 – WW Durant is President and CE Durkee is Superintendent of “Adirondack Railway Company’s Telegraph,” later known as “Adirondack, Lake George & Saratoga Telegraph Company” in conjunction with Western Union Telegraph Company
1880 – Charlie Bennett (1845-1915) purchases Constable Point, begins construction of the Antlers
1880 – 12th September – Bishop William Doane dedicates Good Shepherd, with the Rev. Montgomery H. Throop II (b.1856) as priest-in-charge from 1880-1885
1880 – Stott women from Bluff Point begin 17 years of caring for the summer chapel, spring planting, cleaning
1880 – Brothers Ed and Charlie Bennett open “Under the Hemlocks” on Long Point
1881 – Cottages are constructed on Rush Point
1881 – Frederic Durant (cousin) begins construction of Prospect House on Blue Mountain Lake with a steam elevator, Thomas Edison builds generator providing electric light in all 300 rooms – with two other area hotels the village can accommodate over 1,000 guests
1881 – John Whetten Ehninger paints oil Mission Church on St. Hubert’s Island now at Adirondack Museum
1881 – The Rev. Montgomery H. Throop II of Good Shepherd, Bishop Doane of the Diocese of Albany and a committee of summer residents plan to establish a mission church on Blue Mountain Lake
1881 – Adirondack Company led by Dr. Thomas Durant declares bankruptcy, railroad holdings purchased by William West Durant and others
1882 – Adirondack Company reorganized as Adirondack Railway with WW Durant as president
1882 – William West Durant completes Pine Knot, first of the artistic Great Camps, followed by Uncas 1893, Kamp Kill Kare 1896 and Sagamore 1897
1882 – William West Durant donates rectory for Mission of the Good Shepherd
1882-1915 Prospect House
1882 – 1st July – NY Times “Prospect House opens on Blue Mountain Lake, can accommodate 500 to 600 guests, generator built by Thomas Edison, steam elevator, electric light in all 300 rooms”
1882-83 – Echo Camp built for future Governor Phineas C. Lounsbury of Connecticut by Charles Blanchard and Thomas Wallace. Wallace also built Church of the Transfiguration in Blue Mountain Lake. Likely same twin-towered plans by unknown architect used for Fairview, Camp Cedars and Echo
1883 – Tiffany windows donated to Good Shepherd likely by Francis and Elizabeth Stott, dedicated to their children Dora (1871-81) and Lawrence (1870-82). Only four of their 10 children survive childhood due to epidemics of childhood diseases
1883 – All state-owned lands in Adirondacks pulled from real estate market in anticipation of passage of bill creating an Adirondack park – which does not occur until almost a decade later
1884 – Marriage of William West Durant, 34, to Janet Lathrop Stott, 19, only surviving daughter of the Stotts of Bluff Point and Stottville, in St. Barnabas Church, Stottville
Our Saviour built from Good Shepherd’s plans
1884 – Dedication of Church of Our Saviour in Mandarin, Florida. At request of Harriet Beecher Stowe, William West Durant provides design plans from Good Shepherd on Raquette Lake and modifies them himself for use by Florida congregation
1885 – Death of Dr. Thomas C. Durant at age 65 in North Creek
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E. Bierstadt’s photos of Good Shepherd & Transfiguration
1885 – At request of WW Durant, Edward Bierstadt NYC photographs hotels, churches and other Adirondack scenes for tastefully done advertising brochure, The Adirondacks, Artotype Views Among the Mountains and Lakes of the North Woods
1886 – Frank Hamilton Taylor, American artist and journalist for Harper’s Weekly, engaged by W.W. Durant to promote business for the railway from Saratoga to North Creek. Brochure Birch Bark: From the Adirondacks appears annually in three issues 1886-88
1886 – Travel to Adirondacks increases substantially over the next four summers in large part due to Durant’s Adirondack Railway’s publication of Birch Bark, which presents the “natural attractions of this most remarkable region of the country”
1887 – Frank “Tim” Stott, Francis’ son, takes possession of Camp Stott; he and his wife have no children to carry on
1887 – Catherine Grier Patterson, Jean Carmichael’s mother, emigrates from Ramelton, County Donegal, Ireland, to Montreal, age seven
1888 – WW Durant purchases Township 34 from lumberman James Ordway
1888 – WW Durant purchases Township 6 from Marshall Shedd, Sagamore built on Shedd Lake (renamed Sagamore) in 1897
1888 Adirondack Railway ad
1888 – Harper’s Magazine ad lists William West Durant as Adirondack Railway General Manager, CE Durkee as Superintendent, “Adirondack Lakes, Mountains & Forests…Finest Hotels, Purest Air, & Most Comfort”
1888 – WW Durant stocks lakes with young trout from State Hatcheries – Blue Mountain, Raquette & Schroon Lakes, laws against killing deer to be strictly enforced
1888 – Travel in Adirondacks by rail, stage and boat brought “fully up to the standard of the times”
1889 – The Rev. Edward Octavus Flagg, Grace Church (Episcopal) NYC, serves one summer at Good Shepherd, composes two poems about St. Hubert’s
1889 – William West Durant sells his father’s interest in Adirondack Railway to the Delaware & Hudson, keeps the Eckford Chain of Lakes – Blue Mountain, Eagle and Utowana
1890s
1890 – William West Durant begins construction of Camp Uncas on Lake Mohegan
1890 – William West Durant donates land for Blue Mountain Lake Cemetery
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St. William’s on Long Point designed in ‘shingle style’ by Josiah Cleveland Cady
1890 – William West Durant donates land and funds to construct St. William’s Roman Catholic Church on Long Point, given to the people of Raquette Lake
1890 – August dedication of St. William’s, arranged and funded by Durant
1890 – The Rev. Flagg publishes Earlier and Later Poems, including two poems about St. Hubert’s Isle
c1890 – William West Durant installs himself as Postmaster of Durant on Long Point
1891 – BrightSide On Raquette opens, built by Joseph O. A. Bryere and his wife Mary. Joseph is an Adirondack guide and caretaker of Camp Fairview on Osprey Island among others. BrightSide eventually grows into a popular 100-acre resort
1892 – Camp Uncas is completed, over 1,500 acres
1892 – Bill creating a 2.8 million acre Adirondack park passed by NYS Legislature through the efforts of Seneca Ray Stoddard, Verplanck Colvin and many others
1892 – Stoddard again photographs St. Hubert’s Isle, the church and Osprey Island
1892 – WW Durant observes Dr. Seward Webb’s success (financed by Webb’s father-in-law William Vanderbilt) with overnight train service from NYC through Herkimer to Fulton Chain (Thendara)
St. Barnabas, Stottville
1894 – 1st December – William Brown-Serman appointed priest-in-charge of both St. Barnabas, Stottville, where Stott family of Bluff Point are members of his congregation, and of Good Shepherd on Raquette Lake
1895 – The Rev. William Brown-Serman begins 46 summers as priest-in-charge of Good Shepherd
1895 – J.P. Morgan purchases Uncas from William West Durant
Collis P. Huntington
1895 – William West Durant sells Camp Pine Knot to Collis P. Huntington [founder of Central Pacific RR which joined with Union Pacific RR in 1869 to connect both coasts]. Huntington is the prime financial backer of Durant’s plan for overnight travel from NYC through to Blue Mountain Lake
1896 – Divorce of Janet Lathrop Stott and William West Durant, Stotts return home using train from Clearwater to Utica to Stottville rather than Blue Mountain to North Creek which would pass Dr. Durant’s home
1897 – William West Durant completes Camp Sagamore
1897 – State of New York acquires most of Township 6 from Durant, except future lands for Sagamore and Kamp Kill Kare
1898 – Lucy Carnegie rents the Stott camp on Bluff Point before deciding to build her own on North Point
1898 – WW Durant sells Lake Kora (Sumner Lake) and estate to Lt Gov Timothy L Woodruff who constructs Kamp Kill Kare
1898 – The Rev. William Brown-Serman publishes poem about St. Hubert’s, “Here Will I Dwell”
1898 – Death of J. Harvey Ladew of Osprey Island, long-time summer resident of Raquette Lake
1900s
1900 – 16th February – NY Times – “Lucy Carnegie’s son Andrew II weds Bertha Sherlock”
1900 – Delaware & Hudson (Adirondack) Railway brochure, Manual of Excursions, Fares, Hotels and Boarding Houses, describes travel from Blue Mountain to Raquette Lake as “one of the most fascinating trips imaginable”
1900 – Delaware & Hudson pamphlet touts four hotels in Raquette region – Sunset Camp (R. Bennett), Camp Interlaken (F. R. Wood), the Antlers (C. H. Bennett) and the Hemlocks (J. J. Daily)
Steamer Adirondack 1902-1927
1900 – 1st July – Raquette Lake Railway spur from NY Central opens, 18 mile run from Clearwater, primarily for the well-to-do to reach their summer camps on Raquette and Blue Mountain Lakes
1900 – Board of Directors of the Raquette Lake Railroad, the “Millionaires’ Line,” includes Dr. Seward Webb, J.P. Morgan, Collis P. Huntington, William C. Whitney and William West Durant – all of whom have camps in the area
Original Raquette Lake Supply
1900 – In the Spring, WW Durant moves the Durant Post Office from Long Point to the present location, the hamlet of Raquette Lake, to accommodate the railroad terminus; general store, Raquette Lake Supply, soon follows
1900 – Maps of the era label hamlet “Durant Station & Post Office” through 1907
E.E. Kellogg photo Carry Railroad between Marion & Utowana
1900 – WW Durant establishes Raquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake Steamboat Line – travel from New York City through to Blue Mountain Lake using rail and steamers – leave NYC at 6:30 pm and arrive at resorts for breakfast
1900 – Francis H. Stott dies, Durant’s friend and former father-in-law
1900 – Brief typhoid scare keeps Blue Mountain hotels and Eagle Lake Golf Course from flourishing
1900 – 14th August – NY Times – [Durant’s financial backer] “Collis P. Huntington, builder of Central Pacific RR, Organizer, Land Owner, and Philanthropist dies unexpectedly at Raquette Lake.” Camp Pine Knot lies empty until gifted to SUNY Cortland in 1947-49
Lucy Carnegie at North Point Camp
1901 – Lucy Carnegie purchases North Point camp from James Ten Eyck and by 1903 replaces it with new buildings designed by Kirtland Kelsey Cutter, likely based on his Idaho Building from the 1893 World’s Fair
1901 – Andrew Carnegie sells Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan for $480,000,000 and US Steel is born
1901 – The Raquette Lake Railway “millionaires’ line” carries from 8,000 to 10,000 passengers each season
1901 – William West Durant’s company, Forest Park and Land, sells Camp Sagamore to Alfred G. Vanderbilt
1901 – W.W. Durant’s Forest Park and Land Company sells 34,153 acres to Patrick Moynehan DBA the Raquette Falls Land Company. Moynehan was a part-owner of the general store on Long Point before the village moved to its present location in 1900, and of the Hotel Adirondack in Long Lake
1902 – Without Huntington’s financial backing Durant is forced to sell the Raquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake Steamboat Line to Dr. Seward Webb who already has a railroad from Utica to Fulton Chain (Thendara)
1902 – Dr. Webb reorganizes Steamboat Line as the Raquette Lake Transportation Company – railroads, steamers and car floats
1902 – 21st June – NY Times – “W.C. Whitney adds to his Raquette Lake summer place, Frank H. Platt has purchased the Strange place, Deerhurst, on Raquette Lake” [Tioga Point]
1902 – 5th July – NY Times – “It is alleged that Osprey Island is owned by the State, and that the building started by Mrs. J. Harvey Ladew was on State Land”
1902 – 5th July – NY Times – “One may now alight at supper time on the shore of Blue Mountain Lake on the evening of the day he left New York City”
E.E. Kellogg photo Steamer Tuscarora
1902 – 12th July – NY Times – “The Tuscarora, a new double-decked steamboat, made a trial trip Monday morning, and has since been put in commission between Blue Mountain Lake and the Marion River Carry”
1902 – W.W. Durant and St. William’s on Long Point begin plans to build St. Paul’s Roman Catholic church in Blue Mountain Lake
1902 – World famous William Henry Jackson from Keeseville, NY, photographs the Antlers, St. Hubert’s and Camp Ladew
H.M. Beach photo Raquette Lake House
1903 – Raquette Lake House in village opens, hotel holds 200
1903 – 1st August – NY Times – “J.P. Morgan, Jr., is at the Morgan camp, Camp Uncas, Mohegan Lake. The camp is about 1,500 acres”
1904 – St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, Blue Mountain Lake, is dedicated, shares priest with St. William’s on Long Point, Raquette Lake
1904 – 14th May – NY Times – “State gets Raquette Lake, Wins Actions against occupants of Hamilton County Lands”
1904 – WW Durant’s remaining lands sold, 3,494 acres to group that forms Eagle Nest Corporation (clipping from NY Times)
1904 – William West Durant declares bankruptcy, rarely returns to the Adirondacks
1905 – John Dunlop, Jean Carmichael’s father, emigrates from Londonderry, Ireland, to Montreal. Sees Catherine Patterson’s photo in the newspaper and tells his friends, “That’s the girl I’m going to marry!”
1905 – Robert J. Collier purchases the Stott camp on Bluff Point, improvements made to 20+ structures
1905 – 14th June – NY Times – “Camp Uncas, the elaborate Adirondack place of J. Pierpont Morgan, builds 12-mile road to the Uncas Station on the Raquette Lake Railway”
1905 – 1st December – NY Times – “State may raze 40 buildings and camps built on state land in the Raquette Lake region, some costing upwards of $18,000”
1906 – State of New York acquires most of Township 34 from Patrick Moynehan at $7 an acre
1907 – W. H. Jackson again hired by D&H Railroad to photograph Antlers, St. Hubert’s and Raquette Lake among other sights to help to increase tourism in the area
1907 – Helen Elizabeth Lathrop Stott, former mother-in-law of Durant, dies. Only 4 of her 10 children survive childhood – Good Shepherd windows memorialize two of them
Adirondack guide boat
1908 – 11th July – NY Times – “The Adirondack guide boat, a craft especially adapted to the Adirondack lakes and streams, is a cranky boat and soon instills the mind of the unwary with a wholesome respect for itself. In the hands of an experienced oarsman it rides the water gracefully and easily, but to the beginner it is often for a time full of terrors….”
1910s
1909 – Peter Collier dies, founder of Collier’s Once A Week in 1888
1912 – Robert Collier appointed editor of Collier’s Weekly, founded by his father Peter
1912 – Collier often seen speeding across lake from Bluff Point to the Village in the 45 foot Skeeter, in June ships a dismantled Curtiss-Wright biplane to Raquette Lake via baggage car, likely for the first flight in Adirondacks. Photo at the Adirondack Museum
1913 – 27th August – NY Times – “Alfred G. Vanderbilt has purchased Timothy L. Woodruff’s celebrated Kamp Kill Kare, over 1,000 acres”
1914 – Good Shepherd rectory burns on St. Hubert’s, along with all church records
1914 – 26th August – NY Times – “Robert J. Collier, editor and publisher of Collier’s Weekly, critically ill – late tonight he was removed from his Summer home on Bluff Point [Raquette Lake] to his private railway car Vagabondia, and will arrive in New York early tomorrow morning”
1915 – 7th May – NY Times – “Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt of Sagamore, drowned on the Lusitania, leaves estate….” [later appraised at $16,769,814]
1915 – 30th July – NY Times – “A vigorous campaign is to be made to clear State forest lands of squatters and other trespassers including Robert Collier”
1916 – 25th June – NY Times – “The honk-honk of the automobile has long since replaced the crack of the whip and the clarion notes of the tally-ho bugle on Adirondack highways, and the horse-drawn vehicle is yearly becoming more of a rarity.” “Travelling by automobile is the dominant sport this Summer at the expense of trout angling, rough camping, canoeing….”
1916 – Raquette Lake Boys and Girls Clubs are established on Antlers property
1916 – 10th September – NY Times – “TRAVEL by automobile in the Adirondacks is heavy now and information as to highway conditions is eagerly sought by travellers”
1916 – Lucy Carnegie (sister-in-law of Andrew) dies, her will directs that no property shall be sold while any of her children are still living, properties managed by her son Andrew II, later by the Lucy Carnegie Estate. Camp North Point is run for several years as Chalet Lucerne
1917 – Rough cottage on St. Hubert’s built as temporary summer home
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New Good Shepherd rectory
1918 – New rectory on St. Hubert’s designed by Stanley Brown-Serman. Lumber is shipped to Merlin Austin at Hunters’ Rest and brought across to the Island
1918 – Robert Collier of Bluff Point dies of heart attack at 42, first individual to purchase an airplane from Wright Brothers for personal use
1919 – 29th June – NY Times – “MANY MOTOR DELIGHTS IN ADIRONDACK TOUR; Lakes and Mountains Offer Wide Variety of Scenic Attractions – Roads Very Good too, the Popular Resorts Ferry Routes for Motorists: Evidences that the war is over and that motor car owners are preparing to do more extensive touring this Summer than during the last year or two have been clearly shown”
1919 – Andrew Carnegie dies
1920s
1921 – Andrew Carnegie II (nephew) sells his portion of Ten Eyck property on North Point to Mrs. Herman Mason who opens a summer camp for girls (Greylock)
1921 – Frank Strong “Tim” Stott dies, son of Francis and Elizabeth Stott of Bluff Point and Stottville
c1922 – Camp Fairview on Osprey Island is destroyed by fire – wet sheets put on porch roof of Good Shepherd’s new rectory to contain huge chunks of burning material blowing across channel
1923 – Raquette Lake Transportation Co sold to Maurice Callahan, the 20-year manager
1924 – Lucy Carnegie camp sold to Raquette Lake Supply and for several decades is a resort known as the North Point Inn
1925 – Antlers Golf Course is built
1926 – 29th October – NY Times – Dr. W. Seward Webb dies in Vermont at 76, famed railroad builder
1927 – 20th February – NY Times – FRONT PAGE – “Fire that destroyed six buildings, including the Raquette Lake House, Raquette Lake Supply and three lake steamers [Adirondack, Killoquah and Saratoga], caused damage here today of at least $400,000 and left about seventy-five persons homeless.”
1927 – NY Central Railroad allows villagers to seek food and shelter in its Raquette Lake station which was left untouched by the fire as supplies are brought in from Old Forge
1927 – Annual Church Fair still held on St. Hubert’s
1927 – Collis P. Huntington heirs donate land in village for $1 for Raquette Lake Chapel
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Raquette Lake Chapel
1928 – Raquette Lake Chapel dedicated by the Rev. V. L. Mackey NY Presbyterian Synod
1928 – 19th August – NY Times – “TINIEST RAILWAY IS NOW MENACED; [Marion River Carry Railroad] Line Joining Two Lakes, With Its Mile of Track, One Engine and Three Ex-Street Cars, May Be Forced Out of Business, new highway [Route 28] is being built from Old Forge to Deerland, passing directly by the railway…ominous sounds of dynamite blasts now echoing in its ravine”
1929 – Marion River Carry Railroad closes after 29 years
1930s
Rebuilt Raquette Lake Supply
c1930 – Raquette Lake Supply rebuilt after fire by Maurice Callahan, Dennis B. Moynehan and Dennis Dillon with hotel rooms above store
1930 – Paved road from Raquette Lake to Blue Mountain Lake completed
1931 – Golden Beach State Park is built by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps
1931 – Janet Lathrop Stott Durant, first wife of William, dies
1933 – Raquette Lake Transportation Co. closes – railway and steamboats
1933 – Last New York Central train leaves Raquette Lake station on 30 September
1934 – William West Durant dies at 84, was living in a basement apartment on Fifth Avenue in NYC
1935 – Tyler Merwin sells Blue Mountain House to William and Katherine Wessels
1936 – Durant’s widow, Annie, dedicates Lake Durant and a plaque in honor of her late husband
1936 – John Callahan sells his share in Raquette Lake Supply and adjoining property to his brother Maurice, Dennis B. Moynehan and Dennis Dillon
1938 – St. Williams on Long Point rectory burns, along with all church records
1939 – Work begins on Lake Durant Campground by Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps
1940s
1941 – Brown-Serman family ends 47 summers at St. Hubert’s due to WWII
1944 – William Brown-Serman returns St. Hubert’s keys to Albany Diocese
1946 – Bishop Frederick Barry of Albany makes St. Hubert’s his summer home
1947 – Harold K. Hochschild and William L. Wessels begin plans for Adirondack Museum, to be constructed on site of Merwin’s Blue Mountain House, now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Wessels
1947 – Hochschild, Wessels and others form the Adirondack Historical Association
1947 – Adirondack Historical Association purchases Blue Mountain House from William and Katherine Wessels to be used as site for Adirondack Museum
1948 – Lake Durant Campground opens
1949 – Carmichaels camp at Eighth Lake
1949 – Cortland State U purchases Pine Knot
1950s
1950 – Carmichaels camp at Lake Meacham
1950 – The Rev. William Brown-Serman dies at 96
1950 – 25th November – Hurricane force winds damage 16,000 acres of the Adirondacks, 100% of tree cover in some areas. Windstorm destroys ice house and workshop on St. Hubert’s, 60 large trees felled on island, corner roof of east bedroom damaged. Island is unused for eight years, huge trees block every path
1954 – Harold Hochschild succeeds William Wessels as president of the Adirondack Historical Society
1955 – The Rev. Stanley Brown-Serman dies at 72
1955 – Ground breaking for Adirondack Museum
1955 – Remaining parts of train cars from the Marion River Carry RR trucked from Raquette Lake to site of the Adirondack Museum and reassembled for a future exhibit, donated by H. Birrell
1955 – Opening of first paved road (Route 30) between Northville and Indian Lake
1956 – Steamer Osprey trucked across 18″ ice from Osprey Island boathouse, refurbished for display at Adirondack Museum
1957 – Opening of Adirondack Museum on former site of Blue Mountain House
1957 – Fay works at Hemlock Hall, Blue Mountain Lake, owned by the Webbs
1959 – Fay works at the Antlers for Don and Betty Langham
1959 – Church services resume on St. Hubert’s Isle after 17 year hiatus
1960s
1960 – The Rev. Ralph M. Carmichael purchases St. Hubert’s Isle from Diocese of Albany
1960 – Fay works at the Antlers, John at Hunters’ Rest for Marian and Jim Bird
1961 – Old route 28/30 reconstructed from Indian Lake to Blue Mountain Lake
1961 – Mikey Collins dies at 21 of cancer
1911 Stoddard photo Hunters’ Rest
1962 – Hunters’ Rest owned by Marian and Jim Bird closes
1962 – Last of Lucy Carnegie’s children dies, all holdings divided among heirs some of whom sell
1963 – State of New York acquires 100 acres west of Lake Durant
1964 – Ralph Carmichael awarded fellowship for one year’s study at Oxford University, family gone 14 months except John who is in Air Force in Alaska
1965 – Cortland State purchases Antlers casino and cottages from Don and Betty Langham
c1968 – Underwater cable brings electricity to St. Hubert’s, Strawberry, Osprey, Little Osprey
1968 – Good Shepherd foundation rebuilt by Boy Scout Troop 400 of Syracuse using original stones
1969 – Good Shepherd roof reshingled by Boy Scout Troop 400 of Syracuse, troop advisors included two professional carpenters
1969 – Church of the Good Shepherd rededicated by Bishop Brown of Albany Episcopal Diocese
1970s
1973 – St. Hubert’s Guest Cottage is renovated, electricity and water lines run over from main house
1975 – Syracuse University sells 1,517 acres of the Vanderbilt Estate to the State of New York, leaving only 7.71 acres for the Sagamore Institute. Interior furnishings are auctioned off, to the great dismay of area residents
1976 – First paved bicycle path in Adirondacks, between Indian and Blue Mountain Lakes
1976 – Sagamore Lodge, designed by William West Durant, added to National Register of Historic Places
1977 – Church of the Transfiguration, Blue Mountain Lake, built by Thomas Wallace, added to National Register of Historic Places
1977 – Blue Mountain House, built by M. Tyler Merwin and now site of Adirondack Museum, added to National Register of Historic Places
1977 – Dean and Donna Pohl begin using tug boat Rachel to push barge selling bulk fuel around lake
1979 – Good Shepherd brick chimney rebuilt by Fred Burke
1980s
1980 – Good Shepherd repainted in original color scheme from 1899 photo, by Boy Scout Troop 400 from Syracuse
1980 – Centennial of Church of the Good Shepherd includes costumes from 1880, concerts at the gazebo, fireworks, four special church services
1983 – Sagamore Institute acquires 10.9 acres from State containing 11 historic out-buildings in exchange for 200 outlying acres
1983 – 7th October – Three buildings at Camp Huntington burn due to 5.1 M earthquake. Fay was in Lake Placid touring with her brass quintet, felt as though her bed were floating up in the air, totally out of control. Ralph and Jean were on St. Hubert’s, very close to Huntington, but hardly felt a thing.
1984 – 24th January – Ann Caroscio Carmichael left paralyzed after flatbed truck backs across entrance ramp on Northway into her car, son Andrew born six months later. Ann learns Morse Code by blinking in order to communicate with her husband and seven children
1984 – Camp Huntington reopens on Long Point
1986 – Pine Knot, William West Durant architect, added to National Register of Historic Places
1986 – Echo Camp on Raquette Lake, built by Thomas Wallace and Charles H. Blanchard, added to National Register of Historic Places
1986 – Additional Sagamore buildings added to National Register of Historic Places
1986 – Another storm devastates Raquette Lake, 70 downed trees on St. Hubert’s
1987 – Camp Uncas, designed by William West Durant, added to National Register of Historic Places
1989 – Ann Carmichael passes away, leaves husband and seven children
1990s
1990 – 100th Anniversary of St. William’s on Long Point
W.W. Durant
1991 – Steamer replica WW Durant built by Dean and Donna Pohl is launched on Raquette Lake
1992 – Friends of St. William’s formed to save the 1890 church
1993 – Carmichael Family Trust created to care for 1880 St. Hubert’s Isle
1995 – Raquette Lake begins to test lake water for drinking
27 trees down on St. Hubert’s
1995 – 15th July 5:36 am – huge wind storm damages 15,000 acres, trees and buildings on lake, variously called a derecho, squall line, microburst and downburst – a 2001 study says it was all four
1995 – 27 of our largest trees came down silently in seconds, blocking the guest cottage from the main house and the path to the dock, and landing on the boathouse, above. No power, telephone worked just long enough for Fay to call Albany warning guests not to come. Ray Sr. and Raymond came anyway, bearing chain saws, food and water
1995 – 26th August – the Rev. Ralph M. Carmichael dies at 82 on St. Hubert’s Obituary
1999 – First Annual Durant Days – honoring William West Durant who had the vision to preserve the existing environment, open area to tourism, build four Great Camps and create the rustic Adirondack style of architecture
2000s
2000 – Great Camp Sagamore designated a National Historic Landmark
2001 – Three great great-grandsons of first priest, Montgomery H. Throop II, attend Annual Service
2002 – Good Shepherd foundation rebuilt second time, again using original stones
2003 – Jean Carmichael celebrates her 90th with over 80 friends and family
2003 – New post office opens in Raquette Lake
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1880 Gazebo & 2003 replacement
2003 – Gazebo from 1880s, where church-goers awaited the ‘Church Boat’ after services, is replaced
Bird’s Seaplane at St. Hubert’s dock
photo by Don Bird
2004 – Donald Bird dies, Bird’s Seaplane founded by his father Norton closes, end of an era
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1880 Stoddard photos of new Church in the Adirondacks
2004 – Three 1880 photos found in 1897 issue of Architectural Record provide proof that Josiah Cleveland Cady is architect of Good Shepherd in the stick style popular in the 1870s and 1880s, photos by Seneca Ray Stoddard
1880 Stoddard Stereoview Island Church
2004 – Stereoview of St. Hubert’s, identical to one of above photos, labeled “S. R. Stoddard, Glens Falls, NY. Island Church, Raquette Lake, 1880” helps to authenticate photography in 1897 Cady article
1900 Original rectory & church
2004 – Rare early photo of 1882 rectory discovered in 1900 Delaware & Hudson railway excursion planner. On same site as 1918 present rectory, beautiful chalet style
2004 – 18th August – Pine Knot, designed by William West Durant, declared a National Historic Landmark
2004 – St. William’s RC Church in Raquette Lake Village holds last service
The Rev. Montgomery H. Throop II
2005 – 125th Anniversary of Church of the Good Shepherd. Festivities include trumpet fanfares and talk on the Marion River Carry RR by Sam Berliner III. Over 140 attend, some by guideboat and canoe as in years past. Largest crowd in 47 years, including great-great-great grandsons of first priest Montgomery H. Throop II.
2005 – St. William’s on Long Point added to National Register of Historic Places – shingle style church designed by Josiah Cleaveland Cady, built by Hammond and Mosher in 1890
2005 – Andy’s youngest daughter, Lea, leaves for a year in Shijiazhuang, China, teaching English to students at the Hui Hua College of Hebei Normal University
2005 – Raquette Lake school closes
2006 – 23rd March – Jean Carmichael dies at 92 Obituary
2006 – John’s son Nic and fiancée Ashley leave for five months in Ghana
2007 – Raquette Lake History Center opens in former Raquette Lake School, James M. Kammer director
2007 – Andy’s youngest son Andrew and fiancée Jamie leave for two years in Hawaii
2008 – John’s daughter Noël leaves for three years in Tanzania as a United Nations project manager building and managing a Plumpy’Nut factory to feed the children, in conjunction with the Clinton Initiative
2008 – Nic and Ashley’s wedding
2009 – Andrew and Jamie’s wedding
Raquette Lake | William West Durant | Great Camps | Clergy | Time Line | Writings | Documents | Bibliography
