Echo Camp
Encyclopedia
Echo Camp, also known as Echo Point Camp is an Adirondack
Great Camp on the tip of Long Point adjacent to Camp Pine Knot
on Raquette Lake
. It was used as a private girls' camp from the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s. It was sold in 1986, and is now a privately owned summer residence.
Built for Connecticut
governor Phineas C. Lounsbury
in 1883, its design bears the influence of William West Durant
. Its main buildings were nearly identical with those of two other nearby camps built in 1880, Camp Fairview, built on Osprey Island by cousin C. W Durant Jr., and The Cedars, built by cousin Frederick Durant on nearby Forked Lake. Neither is presently standing, though they are preserved in photographs by Seneca Ray Stoddard
and Edward Bierstadt
(elder brother of Albert Bierstadt
).
Like other Durant camps, Echo Camp is built of locally-felled logs, with separate buildings for each function. The main lodge consists of a one-floor log hall flanked by twin two-story log towers, giving a villa-like appearance. Interiors are sheathed in polished planks and narrow wainscoting, rooms are lightened by large, half-round clerestory windows, and twig work
decorates verandas and eves. Some buildings have applied cedar bark sheathing, still remarkably intact.
The camp was included in a multiple property submission for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
and was listed in 1986.
Adirondack
__notoc__Adirondack may refer to:*Adirondack Mountains, *Adirondack County, New York, a proposed county in New York...
Great Camp on the tip of Long Point adjacent to Camp Pine Knot
Camp Pine Knot
Camp Pine Knot, also known as Huntington Memorial Camp, on Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, was built by William West Durant. Begun in 1877, it was the first of the "Adirondack Great Camps" and epitomizes the "Great Camp" architectural style...
on Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has 99 miles of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the towns of Long Lake and Arietta,...
. It was used as a private girls' camp from the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s. It was sold in 1986, and is now a privately owned summer residence.
Built for Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
governor Phineas C. Lounsbury
Phineas C. Lounsbury
Phineas Chapman Lounsbury was an American politician and the 53rd Governor of Connecticut.- Early life :Lounsbury was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut on January 10, 1841. He got only minimal education. However, he prospered in the business world. He partnered with his brothers, George E...
in 1883, its design bears the influence of William West Durant
William West Durant
William West Durant was a designer and developer of camps in the Adirondack Great Camp style, including Camp Uncas, Camp Pine Knot and Sagamore Camp which are National Historic Landmarks. He was the son of Thomas C. Durant, the financier and railroad promoter who was behind the Crédit Mobilier...
. Its main buildings were nearly identical with those of two other nearby camps built in 1880, Camp Fairview, built on Osprey Island by cousin C. W Durant Jr., and The Cedars, built by cousin Frederick Durant on nearby Forked Lake. Neither is presently standing, though they are preserved in photographs by Seneca Ray Stoddard
Seneca Ray Stoddard
Seneca Ray Stoddard was an American landscape photographer known for his photographs of New York's Adirondack Mountains. He was also a naturalist, a writer, a poet, an artist, and a cartographer. His writings and photographs helped to popularize the Adirondacks.Stoddard was born at Wilton, in...
and Edward Bierstadt
Edward Bierstadt
Edward Bierstadt was an American portrait and landscape photographer, and engraver. He was a brother of the painter Albert Bierstadt, and made a number of engravings of his brother's work...
(elder brother of Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...
).
Like other Durant camps, Echo Camp is built of locally-felled logs, with separate buildings for each function. The main lodge consists of a one-floor log hall flanked by twin two-story log towers, giving a villa-like appearance. Interiors are sheathed in polished planks and narrow wainscoting, rooms are lightened by large, half-round clerestory windows, and twig work
Twig work
Twig-work is the term applied to architectural details constructed of twigs and branches, usually peeled, to form decorative motifs in buildings and furniture. The most common instances are found in Adirondack Great Camps, in northern New York State, although examples are also found in the...
decorates verandas and eves. Some buildings have applied cedar bark sheathing, still remarkably intact.
The camp was included in a multiple property submission for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and was listed in 1986.
Sources
- Gilborn, Craig. Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950. Blue Mountain Lake, NY: Adirondack Museum; Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
- Kaiser, Harvey. Great Camps of the Adirondacks. Boston: David R. Godine, 1982.