Prospect Point Camp boathouse, Upper Saranac Lake, New York

Prospect Point Camp (now known as Saranac Village - A Young Life Camp) is an Adirondack

Great Camp __NOTOC__ The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camp ...

notable for its unusual

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

s inspired by hunting lodges.

William L. Coulter William Lincoln Coulter (1865–1907) was an American architect who came to Saranac Lake, New York, in the spring of 1896 in an effort to cure his tuberculosis, and stayed to design some of the finest Adirondack Great Camps and Cure Cottages ...

's design is a significant example of the Adirondack Rustic style. It is located on a bluff overlooking the northern reaches of

Upper Saranac Lake Upper Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, in the towns of Santa Clara and Harrietstown, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. Upper Saranac Lake is the sixth largest lak ...

, near

Eagle Island Camp Eagle Island Camp, also known as Camp Eagle Island or simply EIC, is a youth summer camp and former Girl Scout camp located on Eagle Island on Upper Saranac Lake in New York's Adirondack region. The site is listed on the National Register of His ...

and

Moss Ledge Moss Ledge is an Adirondack Great Camp designed by William L. Coulter in 1898 for Isabel Ballantine of New York City. Ballantine was the granddaughter of Newark beer baron, John Holmes Ballantine. The camp was one of Coulter's first commission ...

, two other Coulter designs. Its grand scale is typical of the opulent camps of the area in the great camp era. The camp was built for

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

copper magnate and financier

Adolph Lewisohn Adolph Lewisohn (May 27, 1849 – August 17, 1938) was a German Jewish immigrant born in Hamburg who became a New York City investment banker, mining magnate, and philanthropist. He is the namesake of Lewisohn Hall (which formerly housed the Schoo ...

. In a departure from the tendency of camps to be sheltered in the woods, Prospect Point Camp towers over its shoreline, approached by several broad flights of steps from the water. The main lodge is a three-story chalet with a

half-timber Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

ed effect, with birch bark filling the role usually played by brick or stucco. Birch bark is also used as a ceiling treatment between the beams. Interior walls were finished with local spruce, but also with southern pine, stained green or tan. The boathouse was the largest on the lake. The camp had a gasoline-powered generator, and telephones throughout. In the 1940s, the camp was sold, and had a brief career as a lodge, Sekon in the Pines. It was sold again in 1951, and used as a summer camp for young Jewish girls. In 1969, it was purchased by

Young Life Young Life is an evangelical Christian organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado which focuses on young people in middle school, high school, and college. Week-long Summer camps are a major focus, and these have a definite evangelizing asp ...

, a Christian non-denominational ministry based in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, who use it for one-week-long educational camping sessions. Saranac Village celebrated its 50th Anniversary of Young Life camping in August 2020. The camp was included in a multiple property submission of 10 camps for listing on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, and was itself listed in 1986.

References

Sources

* Gilborn, Craig. ''Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950''. Blue Mountain Lake, NY: Adirondack Museum; Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000.

External links

A History of Sekon and its Surroundings''New York Times'', "RUFFED GROUSE ABOUND." July 15, 1906Young Life Saranac Village
Adirondack Great Camps Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Franklin County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, New York {{FranklinCountyNY-NRHP-stub