On Friday, October 9, 2009, preservation enthusiasts from around the Adirondack Park gathered at The Inn at Erlowest on Lake George to honor and celebrate the Fourteenth Annual AARCH Awards.
Six awardees, including individuals and local groups shared their stories of challenge and success, passion and purpose with a lively and engaged group of advocates and supporters.
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William Gates and Family For long-term stewardship of the Gates Homestead, Bolton Landing |
This circa 1830 farmhouse has been in the Gates/Reynolds family for 179 years.
In 1917, Jonathan Streeter Gates, great-grandfather of William Gates, sold 90 acres of land including the house to Dr. William G. Beckers. Two years later, Beckers offered Jonathan Gates' wife Nettie, the following options: he would move the Gates' house from the east to the west side of the road; build her a house anywhere in Bolton landing she chose; or buy her the Tanner House in Bolton landing. Nettie chose to have the house moved, and so it was turned around and moved across the road.
During the time that William Gates has been steward of this family homestead, he has been working on numerous projects on the house and the outbuildings, and organizing the extensive collection the family has accumulated over the years. In 2008, the Gates Homestead was listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places. (Gates, 75)
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Paul and Susan Provost For long-term stewardship of Hemlock Hall, Blue Mountain Lake |
The main lodge, built c. 1890 for the Paul family and named Nawadaha, which means "sweet singer in the forest," from Longfellow's Hiawatha, this summer home served as a peaceful retreat from the family's wholesale shoe business in Pennsylvania.
Nawadaha was the first home in Blue Mountain Lake to have indoor toilet facilities. The main lodge's massive, two-sided stone fireplace serves as a focul point, opening onto part of the living room and a wing of the dining room; there is an additional fireplace in an upstairs hallway. Both the walls and the ceiling retain their original, intricate wainscoting.
In 1948 the property was purchased by Monty and Eleanor Webb, who renamed it Hemlock Hall. Restored in the 1950s, the Webbs added a dining room and additional cabins. Since 1949, Hemlock Hall has operated as a lodge, and continues to do so under the ownership of Paul and Susan Provost.
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Sekon Association For long-term stewardship of the historic properties once known as Fish Rock Camp and Camp Calumet, Upper Saranac Lake |
Isaac Newton Seligman, a New York investor and at the time one of the wealthiest men in the country, developed his "Fish Rock Camp," as the Sekon property was first called, in the late nineteenth century. The entire original camp, except for the Hill house, burned to the ground in 1904, and most of the Sekon buildings standing today date from the reconstruction of the camp which was completed in 1905.
The property which was to eventually become Sekon also included another great camp just to the north called Calumet. Calumet was the summer home of Isaac Seligman's brother George and his sister, Mrs. Theodore (Frances) Hellman. Isaac Seligman was killed in a horseback riding accident in 1917, but his widow Guta, ran the camp until she became ill around 1931 or 1932.
After the Great Camp era, Fish Rock Camp and Calumet were operated as an all-inclusive Adirondack resort under the name Sekon Lodge. On July 11, 1964, the Sekon buildings and surrounding land were sold at auction. At a crowded auction that day, 22 cottages and buildings, 9 lake-front lots and 26 other parcels of land ranging up to 10 acres, went under the gavel. Just days after the auction, on August 2, 1964, the first meeting of the Sekon Association was held in the former guide's house. Temporary officers were elected: Larry McKillip, president; Mildred Goodrich, secretary and treasurer; and board members E. Wendell Carrier, David H. Danker, Warren F. Longacker and Nolan Powell.
More than 40 years later, the Sekon Association continues to operate as the homeowner association of the combined Sekon properties. The association operates under a set of bylaws adopted by the membership and occasionally amended to suit the needs of changing times. The association levies dues used to maintain roads, the boat landing, the docks, the common beach and other necessities such as insurance. Separate fees are levied among those Sekon owners whose homes are on the association's common septic system. The common water system - which once drew water right out of the lake - has been replaced by individual wells on each owner's property. www.sekonassociation.com
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Thomas Finnigan III For long-term stewardship of T.F. Finnigan Men's Clothing Store, Saranac Lake |
Constructed in 1900, the Finnigan building is located within the Berkeley Square Historic District, more specifically, the Roberts Block. It is a three story, flat roofed, stone faced brick Romanesque commercial block with two recessed balconies in the second and third floor facade. These balconies are characteristic of the adaptation of local architecture to incorporate elements of the tuberculosis cure industry, which had sparked the village's commercial prosperity.
Although there is no record of an architect for this building, it is believed to have been the work of William Scopes. T.F. Finnigan Men's Clothing Store opened in 1923; the ground floor store front retains its 1923 cherrywood fixtures and furnishings. Finnigan's remains in the family and is operated today by Thomas Finnigan III. (National Register Nomination, 1982)
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The Atkinson Family For long-term stewardship of the Atkinson House, Keene Valley |
The Atkinson house was built by James Purviance Atkinson in 1906, on property that was given to him and his wife Maria Normand Smith, by her father, Dr. Normand Smith, who arrived in Keene Valley in the 1860s and bought a considerable amount of land. The original design called for a Swiss-chalet style, however Maria, who designed the house, changed her mind. Perry Sleeper from Keene Valley was the primary builder, and he also made most of the furniture in the house.
The house, which was built at a cost of $3,600.00 is made of native pine with cedar shingles; there are five brick fireplaces built by masons from Keene Valley, and woodstoves in both bathrooms. It has never been wired for electricity, and the original wood stove for cooking remains in the kitchen and is fired up on chilly mornings. Ice for refrigeration was once cut from the brook, but at some point in the 1930s a gas stove and refrigerator were installed, as well as gas lights and a hot water heater; the telephone was installed in 1957.
The house remains in the Atkinson family, and is now owned 2/3 by Suzanne Atkinson Delany, her sister Elaine Atkinson Wilson and her husband James Wilson, and 1/3 by Suzanne's cousins, Maureen Fuller Smith and Michael and William Oliwa. (Suzanne Atkinson Delany)
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Bruce and Beki Pushee For long-term stewardship of the Old Mill Bed and Breakfast, Elizabethtown |
In 1874 this property was occupied by W. L. & B. Excelsior Factory; by 1884, C. N. Williams built a steam sawmill on the property which was still in operation in 1890 with Almon Clark as his sawyer. In 1912, Almon Clark had his own sawmill here with Harry MacDougal as engineer and David Stringham as sawyer. However, according to the 1906 Sanborn Map Company, L. Woodruff operated the sawmill at this site, although by 1927, it was operated by O. C. Clark and Son. After the mill closed, there was a short-lived attempt to run a dine and dance resort there.
Wayman Adams, an internationally renowned portrait painter purchased the mill in 1932 and turned the old mill into his summer home and art studio. The Old Mill Art Colony was founded and operated for 40 seasons, attracting instructors and students from all over the world. Stanley Turnbull and Robert Kraeuter purchased the Old Mill Art School in 1952; from 1960 through 1966 Ralph and Beki Maurello were the proprietors of the Art Center, and in 1990 Bruce and Beki Pushee established The Old Mill Bed and Breakfast, which they continue to own and operate. (Elizabethtown Bicentennial Celebration, 1998)