Last weeks column contained a description of the Colonel William Barbour property on Big Tupper Lake as it appeared in 1920. As we now know, the property was subdivided; 13,190 acres having been sold to new York State and the remaining 1,260 acres sold to the American Legion to be used as a recuperative site for disabled veterans of World War I. The special emphasis of the Legion purchase was to be on the care of veterans convalescing from tuberculosis and the horrible effects of mustard gas poisoning. Until it was outlawed, this deadly form of warfare was sent off from tanks when the wind would blow toward the Allied forces. Unless the soldiers were equipped with gas masks, there was no way for them to avoid breathing the poisonous fumes that filled the hollows and the trenches. I speak of this in part because along with many other American soldiers, my Uncle Frank Frenette, a member of this community, had his life drastically shortened by the after-effects of this insidious and barbaric form of warfare.
Let’s return to the descriptive pages of the now rare sales booklet prepared by the Realtors who were offering the Barbour property for sale:
For recreation during the evening, there is an excellently well-equipped bowling alley at a distance of perhaps 200 yards from the main camp reached by a gravel walk; one of the features to make the alleys more attractive to non-players being a gallery with an enormous fireplace. The Tennis Court is on the road to the farm. In the clearing a very fine golf course can be laid out if desired.
Foxhall Farm is one-half mile from the main camp and is reached through a charming wooded path which passes between the enclosed Deer Parks. The buildings are all modern and up to date. The farmer’s house is very unique and picturesque and is so designed that it is intended for use during the period when the main camp is not in occupancy. This building was especially planned so that the farmer can have his quarters under the same roof and yet separated from the rooms which have always been maintained for use by the family for winter sports, snow-shoeing, tobogganing, etc. These master’s quarters properly heated include accommodations with baths for four or five people. Long Distance telephones.
In the farm proper there are about 75 acres which have been cleared and provide paddocks, kitchen and flower gardens supplying fresh vegetables and flowers in abundance for the camp.
There is a very celebrated herd of Kerry cattle (probably about 20 head) which were personally imported from Ireland by Col. Barbour as being particularly adapted to the rather rigorous winter climactic conditions of the Adirondacks. These have thriven beyond expectation and are an extremely attractive feature of the place. There is also a flock of horned Dorset Sheep. A large flock of wild geese, which during the summer have the freedom of the upper end of the lake, add to its picturesque beauty.
About a half mile from the farm are a series of large clearings made by a Shaker Community nearly 100 years ago. These are about 300 acres in extent and affordable land where sufficient grain is raised to maintain the cattle during the winter. Barns capable of storing under cover the entire crops. A macadam road which is used throughout the year connects the farm.
At Warren Point about three-quarters of a mile north of the farm is another excellently equipped modern camp of about four buildings. The main building is about 140 feet long with a piazza running the full length and situated on the top of a ledge of rocks 40 feet above the level of the water. It overlooks the lake and is designed with a large central living room and a series of guests’ apartments opening from the masters’ rooms beyond. Upstairs is a solid zinc-lined store room, proof against vermin, mice, etc. The bathrooms and running water are giving adequate shore frontage on Big Tupper Lake — 5,000 acres might be apportioned for this, or less if desired.
Between the main camp and the farm are two deer parks, entirely enclosed by steel wire fences eight feet high, woven in place and which are only separated by the path leading to the farm. These parks have been stocked with Fallow Deer from England as well as the native White-tail. The extent of the parks, however, is so large that it is impossible to estimate the number of deer now in the enclosure. The shelter house for the deer was built upon suggestions given by Mr. Hornaday of the Bronx Zoo and is entirely adequate for their winter protection.
There are six launches varying from service launches for the farmers’ use to the large luxuriously equipped 45-foot Bridge Brook speed launch that is very fast and which is used for communicating with the Post Office at Moody about eight miles distant, where there is a dock adequate for any of the launches.
The estate proper contains about 27 square miles or between 19,000 and 20,000 acres with over 15 miles of lake frontage.
The four most important Estates in the Adirondacks are “Paradise Park,” the Whitney, the E.H. Litchfield and the A.A. Low. These four preserves grouped as they are, form a total area of about 120,000 acres representing the largest tract of absolutely protected game preserves that can be found anywhere in the East, with the additional advantage of easy access to civilization.
The camp may be reached three ways. During the summer, the Horseshoe route is most agreeable. The train reaches the private station (Horseshoe) on the Adirondack division of the New York Central Railway at about 7 a.m. Grouped at the station are several buildings for game wardens, guides, etc.; also a boat-house. After crossing the lake, a team from the farm is waiting at the outlet of the pond (where there is another small boat-house). A beautiful drive through the woods of about one and a quarter hours brings the traveler to the farm, whence camp may be reached by the path or by launch. Still another way is motor up from Saratoga by the new State Highway which crosses Rock Island Bay on the opposite side of the lake, where there is a dock for launches, the distance then from camp being about three miles. The third method is to take the New York Central train past Horseshoe to Tupper Lake Junction and motor from there six miles to Moody (foot of the lake). In winter it is very attractive completing the trip by driving or skating from this point over the ice.
The camps are fully furnished and all furnishing, launches, stock, farm implements, etc., will be included in any sale, so that a purchaser can have the enjoyment of immediate possession.
There are experienced men now employed upon the place who have been in the service of the family for many years and who know the hunting and fishing thoroughly.
Price $350,000.
The rise and fall of the American Legion Mtn. Camp and its property as just described is beyond the scope of this column. Suffice to say, however, that this writer was present in the late 1970s when auctioneer Chas. Vasburgh put property, cottages and their antique furnishings on his auctioneer block. It was a deeply sentimental, disturbing day to see that famous and historic institution go down so cheaply and so ignobly under his auction gavel.
It is useless to look back and speculate now on the failure of the Legion Camp to prosper as a successful operation. Perhaps the nursery rhyme “all the kings horses and the kings men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again” is appropriate here.
Those readers familiar with the Mtn. Camp may agree with respected historian David Ackerman, who when speaking of a similar situation had this to say: “In some respects the story is not unlike a business school study where developments are examined sequentially to determine whether lessons can be learned having the student to look at the ifs and buts as the story unfolds!
“Surely the (Legion Camp) would have made a great case study for a resort management course.”
Historian Ackerman, again commenting on a similar situation such as the Mtn. Camp, concluded his comments in this fashion: “As with a leaf which has passed its prime and spirals downward, first drifting one way and then another, toward its ultimate resting place, so too the (Legion Camp) floated downward to end its long journey.”