Camp Santanoni Historic Area

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, it became fashionable among the country’s wealthiest families to build expansive summer homes in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. The largest of these became known as Great Camps, some of which are still in existence and open to the public. One such Great Camp is Camp Santanoni, which was the summer home of Albany banker Robert Pruyn. Today the home and its grounds comprise the Camp Santononi Historic Area and is open to the public for hiking and other outdoor activities. The former camp is also a National Historic Landmark.

Built from 1892 to 1893, Camp Santanoni is one of the most unique of the Great Camps of the Adirondacks. Most of the large summer homes that were built in the area were built to resemble large, rustic log cabins. But when Robert Pruyn and his family purchased roughly 12,000 acres of land in the late 1800s, they had other ideas in mind. When Pruyn was young, he lived with his father, an ambassador, in Japan, and came to admire many elements of Japanese culture. While some of the buildings at Camp Santanoni resemble typical Great Camp cabins, the Main Lodge was designed to be reminiscent of a Japanese temple.

The Pruyns wanted the camp to appear simply as part of nature. Consequently, the camp’s buildings were scattered among the landscape rather than being clustered closely together. In addition the Main Lodge, the camp also included a Gate Lodge and several buildings that were part of the farm complex. The farm was highly advanced for its time, having been designed by Edward Burnett, an expert on “scientific farming.” The Pruyn’s farm was reportedly the largest of any Adirondack Great Camp.

The Camp at one time consisted of more than 12,000 acres with three distinct groups of buildings, less than half of which remain standing. These buildings include the stone Artists Studio, a log Boat House, a maple sugaring complex and a bath house, as well as remains of several other buildings. During the time that the Pruyns owned Camp Santanoni, the family entertained many prominent visitors there, including Theodore Roosevelt and the grandson of author James Fenimore Cooper.

The Pruyns eventually sold the property to the Melvin family in 1953. Crandall and Myron Melvin used the camp as a family retreat while preserving the camp’s structures. The Melvins continued to own the property until the early 1970s, when Douglas Legg, an eight-year-old relative, disappeared in the surrounding forest and was never found. Following his disappearance, the family sold the Camp to the Nature Conservancy, which sold it to New York State.

At that point, the camp’s lands were incorporated into the State Forest Preserve, but the buildings were simply left to the elements, and several fell into a state of decay. In 1992, however, the state began the process of developing a plan to preserve and manage the site. Many of those buildings have been preserved and are now in use, along with hiking trails and other outdoor facilities.

History , Great Camp Santanoni. Accessed May 25th 2022. https://www.greatcampsantanoni.com/history.

Discover the Fascinating Story Behind Great Camp Santanoni in the Adirondacks, Adirondack.net. Accessed May 25th 2022. https://www.adirondack.net/history/camp-santanoni/.

Camp Santanoni Historic Area, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Accessed May 25th 2022. https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/53095.html.

Santanoni--Visiting, Adirondack Architectural Heritage . Accessed May 25th 2022. https://aarch.org/santanoni/visiting/.