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AARCH Tours
Our 2011 Season has come to a close.
Please check back late Spring to see the 2012 Tour Schedule.

Co-sponsored by Historic Saranac Lake, this tour will be led by Mary Hotaling, its former director. View many of the buildings and sites that made Saranac Lake America's "Pioneer Health Resort." The village's late 19th- and early 20th-century history is closely tied to the treatment for tuberculosis developed by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau. The tour will include the Trudeau Institute, where we will see Little Red, the first cure cottage; the former Trudeau Sanatorium; Saranac Laboratory; the Cure Cottage Museum; and the Bela Bartok Cottage. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. Be prepared for uphill walking. The fee is $35 for AARCH and HSL members and $45 for non-members. Tour attendees will also receive a copy of Cure Cottages by Philip L. Gallos.

Santanoni was built for Robert and Anna Pruyn of Albany beginning in 1892. The estate eventually included 12,900 acres and nearly four-dozen buildings. Led by AARCH staff, the tour will include stops at the Gate Lodge, Santanoni's 200-acre farm, and the Main Camp on Newcomb Lake where we'll see the ongoing restoration of the camp complex and learn first hand about the conservation planning and restoration work. The round-trip walk is 9.8 miles on a gently sloping carriage road. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $20 for AARCH members and $30 for non-members. A limited number of seats are available on a horse-drawn wagon for an additional $20 fee.

Beginning this summer, we will offer a series of multi-day tours that will go beyond the Adirondack Park to explore the history and building types that define the various regions of New York. We kick off this semi-annual event with a two-day tour of the Thousand Islands, located in the St. Lawrence Seaway, along New York's northern border. Known during the Gilded Age for grand island castles and fast boats, it was the destination for many of society's most well-known and influential families.

The tour will begin with an afternoon walking tour of Thousand Islands Park on Wellesley Island, led by Robert Charron, AIA. This will be followed by dinner at the historic Wellesley Hotel. The cottage community of Thousand Islands Park is one of the most intact remnants of the turn-of-the-century summer lifestyle that defined the region.

Saturday will include a guided tour of the Antique Boat Museum, set on 4.5 acres of riverfront in Clayton; a boat tour of the river; and a visit to the famed Boldt Castle on Heart Island, built by George Boldt, owner of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Construction ceased following the death of George's wife in 1904 and the unfinished castle sat idle for 73 years before a multi-million dollar restoration was begun by current owners, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority.

The fee for the tour is $300 per person for double occupancy. Single occupancy is an additional $85. This includes an overnight stay at the Riveredge Resort in downtown Alexandria Bay, three meals and admission to all sites. Gratuity included.

In the 1890s a group of friends and investors established the Piseco Company and Irondequoit Club Inn on over 11,000 acres of forest and lakeshore. The inn, an 1850s addition to the residence of Gene Adams, was erected in 1892. Club cottages were added nearby and some members chose to build their own residences along the lake's eastern shore. In addition to the club's buildings, many other independent camps were built. We will visit three of them built in the early part of the 20th century including: the Irish Camp (c. 1915), Camp Irondequoit (1904) and Onetah Lodge (1924). The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members.

The Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, originally built in 1845, is the third oldest and the largest prison in New York State. This unique opportunity will take us inside this maximum-security prison where we will visit a cellblock modeled on the "Auburn System," the Church of the Good Thief built entirely by inmates, the North Yard, workshops, and the former Dannemora State Hospital. The history of the prison is fascinating and its architecture most dramatic. The tour begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $45 for non-members. Participants must be 18 or older. Note: Cancellations made after June 1 cannot be refunded.

The Town of Keene, occupying a fertile, mountainous stretch along the Ausable River valley, has long been a destination for farming, industrial endeavors and recreational pastimes. Beginning on the southern end of the valley, in St. Huberts at Putnam Camp we will work our way north, stopping at private homes and camps that illustrate the valley's history, ending in Keene at the Mountain House. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. The fee is $30 and is restricted to current members who are at the Sponsor level and above.

Running approximately 24 miles along the border of New York and Vermont, the Slate Valley has been a source of slate since 1848, and is the only place in the world where such a wide variety of colors can be found. Over the past 160 years, this industry, which relied heavily on immigrant labor, has seen success, downturn, and finally a resurgence that continues to the present. On this tour we will explore the history of slate quarrying at the Slate Valley Museum, tour the town of Granville looking at examples of the way slate is used, and visit one of the nearly 30 quarries in operation today. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $45 for non-members.

This tour is a slice of time. It covers the Civil War period from 1861 to 1865 which includes the mining and smelting of the iron from nearby Hammondville that went into building our first iron war ship, the USS Monitor. A series of stops along this driving tour will outline the first few steps in the long chain of processing needed to build an iron ship. This is an important story because the battle between the Union's Monitor and the Confederate's Merrimack at Hampton Rhodes, Virginia, was an early turning point in the war, one that changed naval warfare world wide. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and will end at 4 p.m. The fee is $30 for AARCH, Essex County Historical Society and Penfield Museum members, and $40 for non-members.

Look at more than a century of mining in the Town of Newcomb courtesy of the Open Space Institute. Led by New York State Archeologist Dave Staley; NYS DEC Historic Preservation Officer Chuck Vandrei; and Paul Hai, an educator at SUNY ESF's Adirondack Ecological Center. We will see the 1854 McIntyre Furnace, the remains of the village of Adirondac, the Adirondack Iron and Steel Company operations, and the 20thcentury mining operation at Tahawus. The McIntyre Furnace is an important early industrial site that has been documented by the Historic American Engineering Record. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. The fee is $30 for AARCH members and $40 for non-members.

Once referred to as "the town that refused to die", Lyon Mountain has faced overwhelming hurdles in the past half century. The open pit mining at Lyon Mountain was known for producing high quality iron ore, so preferred that it was used in the cables of the Golden Gate bridge. The departure of Republic Steel in 1967 stripped the community of its largest employer. Despite this, the town has marched forth, celebrating its history through a mining museum, located in the restored 1903 train station. This tour will include a visit to the museum, as well as a walking tour of the town. Many of the company homes, sold into private ownership years ago, have been restored. We'll also look at the remains of the mining operation. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $30 for AARCH members and $40 for non-members.

Mt. McGregor is the home to the General Ulysses S. Grant Cottage and Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility. The former is the cottage where General Grant spent his final months completing his memoirs before succumbing to throat cancer in 1885. Just over the fence is a compound of buildings that sprawls along the mountaintop and was constructed in 1912 as a tuberculosis hospital by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to care for its afflicted employees. By the 1940s it had become a veteran's camp, and then a center for people with developmental disabilities. After a period of vacancy, the site reopened in 1976 as a medium security prison. The tour will be led by Wilton Town historian, Jeannine Woutersz, and will include a visit to the Wilton Heritage Museum. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH and Wilton Heritage Society members and $50 for non-members.

This tour will look at the distinctive rustic architecture on Big Moose Lake, including the work of Henry Covey, his son Earl, and the Martin family. The tour will include visits to the Big Moose Chapel and Manse, The Waldheim, Covewood Lodge, Brown Gables, and two camps on Crag Point. What makes many of these buildings unusual is their vertical half-log construction, the solution to not having a saw mill available. These sites comprise a portion of the clubs and camps that were built to offer guest accommodations, meals, and guide services to early travelers. The tour, led by AARCH's Steven Engelhart, begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members.

Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington were passionate about the arts, nature, and animals, and were no strangers to altruism. Their philanthropy created or supported numerous parks, libraries, and museums. Their largest regional contribution came between 1932 and 1939 when they donated 15,000 acres surrounding their W.W. Durant-designed, Arbutus Lake estate in Newcomb, to Syracuse University to create the Huntington Wildlife Forest. The property was turned over to what is now the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is the site of its Adirondack Ecological Center.

We will tour the camp, and learn about Durant's original design, the Huntingtons, and the use by the college of the preserve for ecological research. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and $45 for non-members.

Led by Mary Hotaling, this tour will visit two turn-of-the-century camps and a chapel on Upper Saranac Lake that display the work of local architects William L. Coulter (1865-1907), William Distin (1884-1970) and Scopes and Feustmann. The tour will include Camp Pinebrook (1898), built for Levi P. Morton by Coulter, though a devastating fire led to new construction. Prospect Point (1903), Coulter's largest camp design, was commissioned by copper magnate Adolph Lewisohn and is now home to Young Life Saranac Village. Mary will give a slide talk there about the life and work of William L. Coulter, the subject of her thesis. Lastly, we'll travel by boat to Chapel Island. The original chapel here was built in 1890, but burned in 1956. It was rebuilt and reopened for services in 1958. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members.

As a gateway community to the Adirondack region, the city of Malone prospered during the late 19th century. People came to the area for the affordable land and made their fortunes growing hops and harvesting lumber. Steady wealth, in addition to access to the railroad, led to the construction of dozens of buildings representing the Victorian era of architecture. Wonderful examples of elaborately adorned and painted Queen Anne and Italianate homes line the streets, many meticulously maintained. The day will begin with a visit to the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society, followed by a walking tour of an historic neighborhood including several interiors. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $30 for AARCH and FCHMS members and $40 for non-members.

This boat and walking tour will include visits to Camp Pine Knot, St. William's on Long Point, and portions of The Antlers, a former hotel. William West Durant built Pine Knot beginning in the late 1870s and it was here that he first developed the features and details we now associate with Adirondack rustic architecture. Saratoga Springs architect R. Newton Brezee, a friend of Durant's, designed The Antlers in 1886. It originally operated as a hotel and cottage resort. Durant was also responsible for building Catholic St. William's in 1890 to provide services for his employees. The tour begins at 10 a.m., includes a one-mile walk along a wooded trail, and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $45 for AARCH members and $55 for non-members.

A southern stop on the Adirondack Division of the New York Central railroad that carried passengers from Utica through the park to Montreal, architecturally Holland Patent is worlds away from the mountainous interior to the north. Settled in the late 18th century, this community features a rare collection of stone Greek Revival buildings. A morning walking tour will circle the public square and the Stone Churches National Register District. The tour will also include a visit to the restored train depot, the burying grounds and the Wethersfield School. The tour begins at 10 a.m., includes a one-mile walk along a wooded trail, and ends at 3 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $45 for non-members.

This driving and walking tour will explore more than a dozen bridges that cross the Ausable River. Bridge historian Richard Sanders Allen has said "There are few watercourses in America, comparable in length to the Ausable, over which so many early bridge types remain." Among them are an 1843 stone arch bridge, the 1857 Jay covered bridge, an 1888 pedestrian suspension bridge, a variety of metal truss bridges, several stone faced reinforced concrete bridges, and the 222- foot steel arch bridge that spans Ausable Chasm. All of these were placed on the National Register in 1999. AARCH's Steven Engelhart, author of Crossing the River: Historic Bridges of the Ausable River, will lead the tour. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $30 for AARCH members and $40 for non-members.

William H. Miner grew up in rural Chazy and made his fortune by inventing, patenting, and manufacturing railroad equipment. In 1903, he and his wife, Alice T. Miner, returned to the family's Chazy farm and began more than three decades of innovative philanthropic work in the region. In this outing, we will explore two of the Miners' most significant and lasting achievements-Heart's Delight Farm and the Alice T. Miner Colonial Museum. The farm was an organizational and technological marvel in its day with 300 buildings on 15,000 acres and 800 employees. In the 20th century, the farm evolved into the Miner Institute, which focuses on pioneering agricultural research and livestock breeding. The museum was established in 1924 in a three story stone mansion, built to house Alice's collection of art and decorative objects. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $40 for non-members.

The city of Gloversville, unsurprisingly, developed around the glove industry, relying on the tanneries that were so abundant in the southern Adirondacks to provide leather. With the departure of this important industry, the city is now working to build a new identity. Fulton County Chamber of Commerce President Wally Hart will lead this walking tour of downtown Gloversville, exploring a stunning collection of turn-of-the-century commercial buildings in various stages of rehabilitation and learning about the city's rich history. We'll also visit the ornate Carnegie Library and the Glove Theater, formerly one of three theaters in town owned by the wealthy Schine family. The fee is $30 for AARCH and Chamber members and $40 for non-members.

Join us on the eastern shore of Lake George as we visit the Wiawaka Holiday House, Paulist Fathers' at St. Mary's of the Lake, Mountainside Library and Cleverdale Lakeside Chapel. Wiawaka was established in 1903 by founder Mary Wiltse Fuller as a retreat for women factory workers. It includes the 1870s Fuller House, once part of the Crosbyside Hotel; the recently restored Wakonda Lodge, once a part of Amitola, Spencer and Katrina Trask's retreat for artists; as well as other housing and support structures. Built in the 1860s, St. Mary's stands prominently on a hillside overlooking the lake. We will visit the chapel, dining hall, and dormitory. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and Wiawaka members and $45 for non-members.

During the late 19th century Orrin Clark, and his sons Solomon and Lewis, operated a successful quarry on Ligonier Point in Willsboro, providing "bluestone" for a number of regional buildings, as well as the Champlain Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge. In addition to the quarry the Clarks ran a dairy farm and a shipbuilding business. This tour will visit the quarry remains; the Clarks' homestead, Old Elm; the quarry master's house, Scragwood; and the surrounding grounds. These buildings have remained nearly untouched since the Clarks' occupancy, providing a rare view of life at the turn of the century. You will also be able to explore the family's history through extensive documents meticulously organized in a private collection. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and $45 for non-members.

Rooted in the progressive movement of the late 19th and early 20th century, children's summer camps reached their peak of development in the 1920s and 30s. Whether promoting equal opportunity for girls, experiential learning opportunities in an outdoor setting, or serving as recreational boarding schools, these camps were often a child's first introduction to the world of nature and outdoor recreation. This tour will explore the architecture and history of two current children's camps. The YMCA's Camp Gorham was originally Darts' Hotel and Adirondack Woodcraft Camps has been welcoming children since 1925. We will also visit the sites of two important former camps: Moss Lake Camp for Girls and Camp Eagle Cove.

The tour will be led by Hallie Bond, curator of the Adirondack Museum's 2003 exhibit, "A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Children's Camps in the Adirondacks," and co-author of the book of the same title. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for nonmembers. Lunch is included.

Farming has been important to the Champlain Valley for more than two centuries. On this southern Clinton County tour, we will explore a series of homesteads and farms from the early 19th century to the present day, which will collectively show how farming has changed over time. We'll begin the day at the Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum, then visit the Keese Homestead (c. 1795) built by Quaker settlers in a community called The Union. Other stops include Remillard Dairy Farm, family owned for three generations; Forrence Orchards, one of the largest McIntosh orchards in the state; and finally Clover Mead Farm, where we'll see how organic cheese is made and sample their exceptional line of farm-fresh products. Led by AARCH's Steven Engelhart, the tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH and $45 for non-members.

The Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, originally built in 1845, is the third oldest and the largest prison in New York State. This unique opportunity will take us inside this maximum-security prison where we will visit a cellblock modeled on the "Auburn System," the Church of the Good Thief built entirely by inmates, the North Yard, workshops, and the former Dannemora State Hospital. The history of the prison is fascinating and its architecture most dramatic. The tour begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. The fee is $35 for AARCH members and $45 for non-members. Participants must be 18 or older. Note: Cancellations made after June 1 cannot be refunded.

This outing will explore the extraordinary architecture, historic sites, and landscapes found along Dudley Road in Westport. It will include: Camp Dudley, the oldest boys' summer camp in the United States in continuous operation (founded 1885); Barber Point Lighthouse (1873); Kenjockety, a Prairie-style camp complex with extensive gardens; Skenewood, a 1904 brick colonial revival residence; and an 1816 one-bedroom, stone schoolhouse. The tour will be led by former AARCH board member Bill Johnston, and begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members.

Led by author Margaret Bartley, we will explore several camps perched on the mountainsides overlooking the Boquet River Valley near Elizabethtown. In her Adirondack Life article, "With Sky for a Front Yard," she wrote, "Like seven reclusive sisters, the camps on Otis and Iron Mountains have remained hidden from all but their closest neighbors for more than a century." Wear your hiking shoes and be prepared for an uphill trek, as we visit five of these remote camps built for and designed by women. We will also explore the Otis Farmhouse and Otis Bridge. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members.

Santanoni was built for Robert and Anna Pruyn of Albany beginning in 1892. The estate eventually included 12,900 acres and nearly four-dozen buildings. Led by AARCH staff, the tour will include stops at the Gate Lodge, Santanoni's 200-acre farm, and the Main Camp on Newcomb Lake where we'll see the ongoing restoration of the camp complex and learn first hand about the conservation planning and restoration work. The round-trip walk is 9.8 miles on a gently sloping carriage road. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $20 for AARCH members and $30 for non-members. A limited number of seats are available on a horse-drawn wagon for an additional $20 fee.

Born in Ausable Forks in 1913, Arto Monaco began drawing at an early age. He attended Pratt Institute in New York City, and later worked for MGM studios in Hollywood. During World War II, he designed and constructed "Annadorf," a faux German village in the hills north of Los Angeles where American soldiers experienced, prior to going to war, the cultural ambience and the dangers of a German town. After the war, he created Santa's Workshop on the slopes of Whiteface Mountain not far from his studio in Upper Jay. This pioneering theme park opened in 1947. During the early 1950s, Arto built the Land of Makebelieve in Upper Jay. Everything was scaled for children who were encouraged to explore the park as their parents relaxed nearby. Join us on this behind-the-scenes tour of Santa's Workshop and the Land of Makebelieve, starting with a slide presentation by Bob Reiss, son of Santa's Workshop founder Julian Reiss. The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members. Lunch is included.

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