Brandreth Park is the oldest family-owned forest preserve in the state of New York.

Description

In 1851 Dr.

Benjamin Brandreth Benjamin Brandreth (June 23, 1809 – February 18, 1880) was a pioneer in the early use of mass advertising to build consumer awareness of his product, a purgative that allegedly cured many ills by purging toxins out of the blood. He became a suc ...

, having made a fortune with his "Brandreth's Universal Vegetable Pills", bought Township 39 in Hamilton County of upstate New York, consisting of in the

Adirondacks 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 d ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

; he paid 15 cents an acre. In this manner he established Brandreth Park, the first private preserve in the future

Adirondack Park The Adirondack Park is a part of Forest Preserve (New York), New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York (state), New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasur ...

. Included on the property is Brandreth Lake. Hamilton County is one of the least densely populated counties in the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The property is mountainous and heavily forested.

History

Brandreth Park remains in the family today and incorporates a number of cabins and cottages in a preserved wilderness setting. According to ''Adirondack Life Magazine'', Dr. Brandreth commissioned a certain Mr. Blanchard to find him a lake at the top of the watershed, because he didn't want any water flowing into his lake. Blanchard found Township 39 and today the lake is known as Brandreth Lake. Dr. Brandreth lost the property in 1873 for failing to pay taxes, but his wife bought it at State auction for $5,091. Currently the property contains and is owned by 90 of Dr. Brandreth's descendants. At one point the Adirondacks contained 45 such private estates, but as of 2000 only four remained, and Brandreth's is the oldest. Upon Brandreth's death in 1880, the property was eligible to be inherited by six of his children. Two of his sons, Franklin and Ralph Brandreth, and his son-in-law, General Edwin A. McAlpin, purchased the interests of the other children and consolidated ownership in their hands, and those of their heirs.

Management

Throughout its ownership by the Brandreth family, the property has been managed in a way to preserve as much as possible its native character. In order to preserve the property's primitive character, all development is limited to the north end of Brandreth Lake, and no motor boats are allowed on the lake. The family anticipated the concept of

cluster development Cluster development (or cluster initiative or economic clustering) is the economic development of business clusters. The cluster concept has rapidly attracted attention from governments, consultants, and academics since it was first proposed in 19 ...

by concentrating all building on the north side of the lake, thereby ensuring pristine views toward the south. Property owners, all descendants of Dr. Brandreth, need to apply to the building committee of the Brandreth Park Association before building. The property was not logged for many years, as the family desired to maintain it in a primitive condition. However, in 1911–1919, a softwood harvest was performed by the Mac-a-Mac Lumber Corporation, of which John N. McDonald and Benjamin Brandreth McAlpin, son of Gen. Edwin A. McAlpin, were principals. This first harvest was extensive, with between 30 and 35 railcars of spruce logs shipped daily to the St. Regis Paper Company's plant in Deferiet. Mac-a-Mac stored an additional 70 carloads of cut logs in ponds and lakes for later transport off the property. A second harvest took place in the mid-1920s. Since then the family has permitted occasional selective harvesting. In the 1950s, the Brandreths sold and donated an additional to Syracuse University while retaining recreational usage rights in perpetuity. Around this time the family created the Brandreth Park Association to provide a vehicle for each family member to have a voice in the management of the property, and to help pay for taxes and other operating costs. In 1992, the Association enrolled the property under the New York State Forest Tax Law, which provides for an 80% exemption from property taxes in exchange for a commitment to sustainable timber production. In 2007, some members of the family established a nonprofit organization known as the Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station in order to preserve and protect the land adjacent to present-day Brandreth Park, on which the family still retains recreational rights. This tract was last owned by

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

. The Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station makes the Shingle Shanty property available to outside parties for research subject to permit.

References

{{Coord, 43.934262, -74.711809, display=title Adirondack Park Forests of New York (state) Nature reserves in New York (state) Protected areas of Hamilton County, New York Syracuse University Nature Conservancy preserves