Sagamore Lodge (Great Camp Sagamore)

Sagamore Lodge was built from 1895 to 1897 for William West Durant. The property's next owner was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who purchased the lodge at a time when Adirondack camps were tremendously popular with wealthy families. Vanderbilt made numerous additions to the property, including expansive guest facilities and men's entertainment quarters. The lodge eventually became the property of Syracuse University, which used it as a conference center. A portion of the camp was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and the entire property was named a National Historic Landmark in 2000. The camp is operated by the Sagamore Institute of the Adirondacks and is available for overnight stays and educational tours.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, it became fashionable for wealthy families to build lodges (which they often modestly referred to as "camps") in the Adirondacks. Some lodges were indeed relatively rustic, while others hardly fit the image of a "camp" at all, with every luxury then available. Sagamore Lodge was built for William West Durant, the son of a wealthy financier. Durant had been involved in building Adirondack camps since the late 1870s when tourism to the area began to increase. In 1895, he began construction of what would become his largest camp, Sagamore Lodge, which sat on 1,526 acres. The lodge was completed in 1897, but Durant was forced to sell the property soon afterward due to financial setbacks.

In 1901, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt purchased the property. Vanderbilt was a newlywed and an accomplished sportsman. Vanderbilt made a number of additions and added several modern amenities, including running water, flush toilets, a sewage system, and a hydroelectric plant. His additions were substantial; he added Wigwam, a guest facility and men's entertainment headquarters. He also added a hunting camp and a concrete tennis court, making an already lavish estate even grander. His wife, however, did not share his interest in the outdoors and the rustic setting of Sagamore Lodge, and the couple visited the home infrequently before their 1908 divorce. Alfred Vanderbilt would later die in the attack on the Lusitania in 1915.

Margaret Emerson, Vanderbilt's second wife, and widow inherited the property at his death. Emerson made a number of changes to the estate and also enlarged it. In addition to enlarging the Dining Room of the Guest Complex, she added a new Adirondack open camp near Wigwam. In the 1930s, she added private sleeping cottages for each of her teenage children. She built smaller cottages along the lakeshore for her younger children. Emerson loved entertaining at the camp and frequently opened the estate to her famous friends, which included Gary Cooper and General George C. Marshall among many others.

In 1954, Emerson gifted the property to Syracuse University, which used it as a conference center for a number of years. By the 1970s, however, the camp was in poor condition following years of deferred maintenance, and the university divested itself of the property, selling it to the state of New York. The buildings were nearly demolished, but the intervention of local preservationists saved the camp. Since 1975, the Sagamore Institute of the Adirondacks has operated at the site, offering overnight stays, tours, educational programs, and outdoor activities. Part of the camp was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and in 2000, the entire camp was named a National Historic Landmark.

Adirondack Great Camps, Visit Adirondacks. Accessed October 18th 2021. https://visitadirondacks.com/what-to-do/great-camps.

Bridger, Beverly . A Short History of Great Camp Sagamore , Great Camp Sagamore . Accessed October 18th 2021. https://www.sagamore.org/about.

Sagamore Lodge, NP Gallery. Accessed October 18th 2021. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/76001221_text.