Travel Tour: Adirondacks Great Camp Experience – Fall 2017
Thursday, 14 September 2017 – Sunday, 17 September 2017
Join Executive Director Wayne Goodman for a unique trip – a three night stay at Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks. Owned by the Vanderbilt family for several generations, it’s now an educational institution and a historic landmak where you can sleep and dine where the Vanderbilts spent their summer leisure days “roughing” it. We’ll tour other Great Camps, take a cruise tour on Raquette Lake, and experience two “only once a year” Adirondack events.
Total cost:
Member double occupancy w/ private bath: $1,449
Member double occupancy w/ shared bath: $1,349
Member single occupancy w/ shared bath: $1,400
Nonmembers please add $45 per person for membership
What’s included?: all meals from Thursday lunch through Sunday lunch; transportation; admissions; gratuities; tours; full use of Great Camp Sagamore facilities; and company of the Landmark Society executive director and staff escort.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! Due to limited accommodations at Great Camp Sagamore, group size for this special excursion will be smaller than our usual tours: don’t wait to reserve, and get your first choice of accommodation type! You may call us to hold a space on the tour with a $500 nonrefundable deposit on your credit card, but all registration applications must be submitted in writing. Download the 2017 Adirondacks Registration Form, or call (585) 546-7029, ext. 11 and we will mail the forms to you.
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What is a Great Camp?: a grandiose family compound of buildings, built in the Adirondack Mountains at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Designed as a “rustic” retreat for wealthy families, they were intended to giving the feeling of roughing it without ever being actually uncomfortable. Expertly crafted of wood, stone and other indigenous materials, their style was influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and Swiss chalet inspired designs. The “camps” are comprised of multiple buildings, designed to move guests outdoors whenever possible. Sleep in one building, dine in another, and enjoy evening recreation in a third.
We will stay three nights at Great Camp Sagamore, built by W.W. Durant but owned and influenced by the Alfred Vanderbilt family from 1901 to 1954. A stay at Sagamore is unlike any other. Situated on a private lake and surrounded by 27 acres of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, you may be housed in the main lodge, Wigwam Cottage, or the bark-sheathed conference building; all with comfortable beds and cozy Adirondack blankets. You’ll have the run of the camp, enjoying the same fireplaces, lounge rooms, furnishings – and bowling alley – the Vanderbilts enjoyed. We’ll dine on hearty fare prepared by professional staff in the glorious dining room (where the tables are stained to match the camp’s maple syrup – Mrs. Vanderbilt thought of everything!) There will be free time to enjoy boating, a short hike, a game of croquet – or simply lounging in the traditional Adirondack chairs on the porch.
When we’re not enjoying Sagamore, we’ll be visiting some pretty spectacular sites, including other Great Camps not normally available to the public. The “once a year” events? The Adirondack National Watercolor Show at View Gallery in Old Forge, with some of the best national water-colorists featured, and the Annual Antiques Show at the Adirondack Museum. Dealers from across the country will bring items that would be at home in the Adirondacks – or perhaps your house. We’ll also be among the first to experience the Museum’s brand new exhibit hall, opening in 2017. We’ll cap off our tour with a luncheon cruise on Raquette Lake, enjoying historic narration as we view many cottages and compounds only accessible by water.
