Going to Camp

An Adirondack sanctuary that once belonged to the Vanderbilts takes visitors away from it all.

Debra Parry Trichilo, Fulton, New York

It’s not often a person can claim to have bathed in the same bathtub as someone famous, but I have. As a volunteer and guest at the Great Camp Sagamore, I have bathed in Margaret Vanderbilt’s bathtub and slept in what was once her room.

To call Sagamore a camp is a little misleading, but that is how the Vanderbilts referred to their summer getaway, which has 27 buildings, including a boathouse. Sagamore is one of several “great camps” constructed in the Adirondack Mountains of New York by wealthy families who brought along a caravan of servants to help them enjoy the great outdoors. A newspaper of the time referred to the area as “the playground of the millionaires and headquarters of the gaming crowd.”

Today, Sagamore, a National Historic Landmark, is owned by a nonprofit and is open to the public, but don’t expect the amenities of a resort lodge. There are no phones, TV sets or WiFi in the rooms, and cell phone reception is sporadic at best. Guests come to Sagamore for the same reason the Vanderbilts did—to get away.

Our first trip to Sagamore was more than 10 years ago. My husband, Gerry, and I didn’t find the great camp beside a busy highway. Once we turned off Route 28 in Raquette Lake, the dirt road wound and twisted over hills and small creeks until we began to wonder if we had taken a wrong turn. After we drove through miles of wilderness, the welcome sign suddenly appeared, and the
Sagamore compound unfolded before us.

We fell in love the minute we arrived.

Color Me Red

Red is the color of Sagamore, and it was everywhere. Red Adirondack chairs lined up on the front lawn and vibrant red geraniums seemed to sprout all over. Each building had a splash of red paint on it—some had windows trimmed in bright red while other buildings were completely red with green trim. The black hardware on the Main Lodge’s massive red door was forged at the camp’s own blacksmith shop many years ago.

Gerry and I love staying in the Main Lodge, where we have awakened to the sounds of loons calling outside our window. The three-story log building was the original Vanderbilt camp.

It was constructed on a peninsula that subtly stretches into the lake, allowing the rays of the rising and setting sun to illuminate the Main Lodge in a warm glow. The transformation is quite a sight, whether the morning mists are rising on Sagamore Lake or the lake is bathed in the warm oranges and golds of the setting sun.

Each room in the lodge has its own story and unique personality—from Mrs. Vanderbilt’s room and the nursery with the secret hideaway to the small but quaint room at the very top of the stairs. The Main Lodge also has a common sitting room where guests can read, play games or just chat around a crackling fire. It’s comfort personified.

To walk around the Sagamore compound gives a person a glimpse into what the Vanderbilt family’s life at the camp must have been like. The buildings are much like they were in the 1900s. The schoolhouse and blacksmith shop have been renovated and opened for tours. Each one is a piece of history passed down.

In 1901, Alfred G. Vanderbilt bought the Great Camp from William West Durant, the son of railroad tycoon Thomas C. Durant. It was his family’s treasured summer home even after 1915, when Alfred went down with the luxury liner Lusitania, which was torpedoed during World War I. Margaret, his widow, continued to entertain friends, family and dignitaries at Sagamore until she donated it to Syracuse University in 1954.

To be invited to Sagamore was an opportunity not to be missed. Guests included Gen. George C. Marshall, Richard Rodgers, Howard Hughes, Gary Cooper, Clifton Webb and Gene Tierney. The most notable among them in those days was probably Madame Chiang Kai-shek, former first lady of the Repulic of China, who brought 25 personal maids to care for her.

Even modern celebrities have found their way to the camp. Some scenes in the movie The Good Shepherd were filmed there. Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin and Robert De Niro have left their footprints on Sagamore soil.

Like Brigadoon

At Sagamore the day officially begins at 8 a.m. when a bell rings announcing that breakfast— which might consist of a French toast and maple syrup casserole with bacon, sausage or ham, juice and coffee—is ready in the dining hall.

The chefs and staff at Sagamore serve three hearty and delicious meals every day. Lunch is usually salad, sandwiches and brownies or cookies, while dinner could be anything from lasagna to roast beef with potatoes and gravy. Even the tap water at the camp is exceptionally clear, sparkling and refreshing. 

No one goes to Sagamore to lose weight, but there are enough activities to help you burn off most of those calories.

Like most lakes in the Adirondacks, Sagamore Lake is good for fishing and the perfect place to launch a canoe, kayak or rowboat—no power boats allowed—for a leisurely paddle along the shore. The boathouse is stocked with canoes, rowboats and life vests for guests to use.

It’s not unusual to see a flotilla of canoes crossing the lake in the morning mist. My husband and I have canoed and kayaked under a sunset sky awash in purples, oranges, pinks and golds and have seen loons surface just a few feet away from us. During the summer, a raft floats yards from shore for the swimmer brave enough to test the chilly but refreshing mountain waters.

Moose, deer, bald eagles, mergansers, common loons and other wildlife have been spotted on the Sagamore grounds and waters. Hiking and exploring the woods are popular pastimes.

After a day of enjoying the fresh Adirondack air, we’ve often relaxed on half-log benches around a bonfire as we told jokes or stories and sang. If only these benches could talk!

As the present Alfred G. Vanderbilt said about his memories of summers at Sagamore, “It was like Brigadoon, the legendary village that appeared out of the mists, just to disappear again. And everyone was happy all the time. That’s how I remember Sagamore.”

That’s how we remember it, too.