William Henry Harrison Murray (1840–1904), also known as Adirondack Murray, was an American clergyman and author of an influential series of articles and books which popularized the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

. He became known as the father of the Outdoor Movement. Born in

Guilford, Connecticut Guilford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, that borders Madison, Branford, North Branford and Durham, and is situated on I-95 and the Connecticut seacoast. The population was 22,073 at the 2020 census. History Guilfo ...

, he graduated from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1862 and then served as a minister in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

and

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.Park Street Church Park Street Church, founded in 1804, is a historic and active evangelical congregational megachurch in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The Park Street Church is a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. Typical attendance a ...

in Boston from 1868 to 1874. He also delivered Sunday evening lectures about the Adirondacks in a Boston music-hall that proved highly popular, and he published a series of articles based on the lectures in a Meriden newspaper. In 1869, they were published as a book, ''Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks''. The literary tone of the book made it extremely successful; it went through eight printings in its first year. Murray promoted

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 * '' ...

's north woods as health-giving and spirit-enhancing, claiming that the rustic nobility typical of Adirondack woodsmen came from their intimacy with wilderness. A subsequent printing, subtitled ''Tourist's Edition'', included maps of the region and train schedules from various Eastern cities to the Adirondacks. Although the book was to become one of the most influential books in the conservation movement of the 19th century, paradoxically, within five years it led to the building of over 200 "

Great Camps __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 ...

" in the Adirondacks; "Murray’s Fools" poured into the wilderness each weekend, packing specially scheduled railroad trains. The book is cited as changing common parlance to use "vacation" instead of the British "holiday" for people vacating their city homes.

Publications

''Camp Life in the Adirondacks'' (Boston, 1868)''Music-Hall Sermons'' (1870–1873)''Park Street pulpit: Sermons by William H.H. Murray'' (1871)
*''Words Fitly Spoken'' (1873)
''The Perfect Horse'' (1873)''Sermons delivered from Park Street Pulpit'' (1874)''Deacons'' (1875)
*''The Golden Rule An Illustrated Family Magazine Edited and Published by W.H.H Murray'' (1874-1879)
''Adirondack Tales'' (1877)''How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney kept New Year, and other Stories'' (1887)''Daylight Land'' (1888)''The Story of The Keg and The Man Who Didn't Know Much'' (1889)''Sermons, lectures, and addresses'' (1898)

References

Sources

*Jerome, Christine ''Adirondack Passage: Cruise of Canoe Sairy Gamp'', HarperCollins, 1994.

External links

Full text of ''Camp Life in the Adirondacks''
* * * *
Works by Murray
at

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, William Henry Harrison 1840 births 1904 deaths American environmentalists American sportswriters People from Guilford, Connecticut Yale University alumni American Christian clergy 19th-century Christian clergy 19th-century American clergy