Knollwood Club

The boathouse at Knollwood. The front of one of the cottages can be seen on the extreme left. Indians on the warpath at Knollwood. James Marshall at left, two unidentified Indians, Ruth Marshall at right. Courtesy of David Marshall Billikopf Four of the gable designs Knollwood club employees (undated) Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 7, 2008 View from Shingle Bay. Three of the six cottages are visible.
Knollwood Club is an Adirondack Great Camp on Shingle Bay, Lower Saranac Lake, near the village of Saranac Lake, New York. It was designed in 1899-1900 by William L. Coulter, who had previously created a major addition to Alfred G. Vanderbilt's Sagamore Camp, and built by Branch and Callanan. The "club" consisted of a boathouse, "casino", and six identical two-and-a-half story shingle cottages, which were distinguished by unique twig work facades. Most of the camp complex still stands in largely its original condition on Shingle Bay on the Lower Lake.

The houses were nearly identical except for the log patterns in their front gable screens. The club included several other buildings for common use: a boathouse, a “casino,” where meals were served, and a number of service buildings. The principle buildings were connected by raised plank walkways with log railings with the bark left on.

In the year 1900, Seaver Asbury Miller described Knollwood: "The advantages of Camp Knollwood are unsurpassed by any camp in the Adirondacks, and especially for this arrangement of buildings, as it is in a bay facing the south, protected from high winds, and has shallow as well as deep water and is surrounded by virgin forests. The camp is on an elevation and is well drained. This place affords one of the rare opportunities offered to gentlemen coming to the Adirondacks, and especially the game park, and it is the intention of the owners of this property to stock their ponds with fish and to preserve the trees of the forest." ¹

The camp was built for six friends: Louis Marshall; Daniel Guggenheim; George Blumenthal, who made the contract with Coulter; Elias Asiel; Max Nathan; and A.N. Stein. The choice of Lower Saranac Lake as the site was determined in part by the growing anti-semitism in America in that period. In 1877, Joseph Seligman was involved in the most publicized anti-semitic incident in American history up to that point, being denied entry into the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York. After that, anti-semitism became more overt, and Jews were excluded from other resorts, most notably at the Lake Placid Club. In reaction, Jews built their own retreats on some of the large tracts of land then opening for sale in the Adirondacks. William West Durant owned much of the land bordering the Saranac Lakes, and was more than willing to sell to any and all buyers. Thus many of the Great Camps and cottages on the Saranac Lakes were built by wealthy Jewish families.

Bob Marshall, the wilderness activist, and George Marshall, the conservationist, spent the summers of their youth there, and — guided by Herb Clark — they initiated climbing the 46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks.

Theodore Meyer, Md had relations to the Asiel family and is said to have been the one to recommend Saranac Lake for the TB Cure.

Albert Einstein was a frequent summer visitor; he was at Knollwood on August 6, 1945 when he heard on the radio that that atom bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, and it was at Knollwood that he gave his first interview after the event, on August 11. ²

The view from Knollwood Club, 1906 Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 8, 1982

Knollwood burns

Famous camp is destroyed

By PETER RACETTE

SARANAC LAKE - A fire of unknown origin destroyed the main lodge [actually Cabin Two] of the famous Knollwood Club on Lower Saranac Lake early this morning.

The 2 1/2-story structure, built in 1900, was owned by Mrs. David Sulzberger and contained many Indian paintings and valuable antique furniture.

The fire was discovered shortly after 2:30 a.m. by two maids who were closing the cottage for the season. The Saranac Lake Fire Department was notified at 2:49 a.m. and responded with 22 men and five trucks.

Firemen said the large camp was "totally involved" when they arrived. The firemen fought the blaze for the remainder of the night, using portable pumps to draw water from the lake. The trucks returned to the station at 6:35 a.m., but several men remained to watch over the smoldering ruins.

Bernard Van Cour, the caretaker of Knollwood, said flames were coming up the staircase and shooting out the roof when he arrived. Van Cour said he entered the basement of the structure with a garden hose, but was unable to quench the blaze.

Two 500-gallon propane tanks attached to the structure did not explode. Firemen said the safety valves on the tasks melted allowing the gas to escape and burn in the air rather than in the tank.

Although the camp was a total loss, firemen were able to contain the blaze. A second cottage less than thirty feet from the fire sustained no damage and very few trees surrounding the structure were burned. Van Cour said Mrs. Sulzberger left Knollwood yesterday. The two maids were to close the house and leave today.

Firemen said they do not know how the blaze started.

Knollwood is a private club established as a summer resort at the turn of century by several prominent New York families. The remaining buildings at the club include five oppulent Adirondack-style cottages and a boathouse. Among the famous guests who have enjoyed the pleasures of summering at Knollwood was Albert Einstien.

Van Cour said the fire was "a great loss." He said it would be impossible to replace the cottage or the artifacts it had held.

Van Cour also praised the efforts of the firemen. "They did a beautiful job," he said. "They worked hard to save the other cottage and keep the woods from catching on fire."

Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 8, 1982

Knollwood - - historic landmark

SARANAC LAKE—The famous Knollwood Club was founded at the turn of the century by six wealthy New York City business and professional families. The opulent Adirondack-style group of camps were built in 1900 by Branch and Callanan.

The main lodge, which had overlooked Lower Saranac Lake, was owned by Mrs. David Sulzberger.

Families which are members of the club include heirs to the Bloomingdale department stores. The Marshall family, which produced Robert and George Marshall, the first men to scale the Adirondack high peaks, were also original members of the club.

Among the guests over the years at Knollwood were Albert Einstein and Cy C. Sulzberger [sic, C. L. Sulzberger], foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Francis Magnus [sic, Frances Magnes], a famous concert violinist, was also a summer visitor.

Also a frequent visitor to the camp was R. Peter Straus and his wife Ellen Sulzberger, ³ Mrs. Sulzberger's daughter. Chairman of Straus Broadcasting in New York City, Straus had served as head of the Voice of America during the Carter administration. Their daughter Jeanne Straus worked at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise for three summers.

Knollwood Display by Amy Catania and Mary Hotaling, shown at History Day 2008. Click on the image to enlarge the display

Bob Marshall wrote: "In the spring of 1906 Ed Cagle, who had guided for our family at Lower Saranac for six years, decided to open a livery stable." He is pictured with Louis Marshall and an impressive string of fish on page ix of Bob Marshall in the Adirondacks by Phil Brown.

Principal Cottage occupants:

A random list of some of the help at Knollwood, Rockledge and Idlepoint ⁴:

In 1914
Annie
Cora
Alice Hastings
Mary Hastings
Nellie Dunn

In 1915
Mr. Hanchett

In 1916
Edith Saunders
Harry Maning
Alf Felt
Elizabeth Scott

In 1918
Wilbur J. Whitman was a bellboy as reported on his Sept 9, 1918 Draft Registration Card.

No date
Clint McDougal, guide at Knollwood
Carl Poser, guide at Knollwood

Summer 1934 (from private correspondence)
Lynwood Coon, drowned in a nighttime boating accident
Russell Newell, carpenter
Percy

Undated (from private correspondence)
Joe Walsh, supervisor following Mr. Hanchett, above
Carter Brady, truck driver

Sources

• Kaiser, Harvey. Great Camps of the Adirondacks. Boston: David R. Godine, 1982. ISBN 0-87923-308-7.

See also

• Prospect Point Camp
  

• Camp Eagle Island
  

• Moss Ledge

External links

• A History of Sekon and its Surroundings
  

• Riley, Howard, ''Adirondack Enterprise'', "Memories from Mr. Rice", November 7, 2008
  

• Riley, Howard, ''Adirondack Enterprise'', "The Knollwood Club", November 1, 2008
  

Other historic properties

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