Camp Uncas is an

Adirondack Great Camp __NOTOC__ The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains are often grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, sites ...

, the second built by

William West Durant William West Durant (1850–1934) was a designer and developer of camps in the Adirondack Architecture, Adirondack Great Camp style, including Camp Uncas, Camp Pine Knot and Great Camp Sagamore which are National Historic Landmarks. He was t ...

for his own use. It lies on the shore of Lake Mohegan, near Great Camp Sagamore, and was completed in two years. Previously Durant had built

Camp Pine Knot Camp Pine Knot, also known as Huntington Memorial Camp, on Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, was built by William West Durant. Begun in 1877, it was the first of the "Adirondack Great Camps" and epitomizes the "Great Cam ...

, which he sold to industrialist

Collis P. Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested ...

, due to financial difficulties

History

The camp was built of logs felled on the property, and all iron hardware was forged on site. In the main lodge and dining hall, the log construction was unusual in that the logs were not interlocked, as in conventional log buildings, but rather were pinned together at beveled corners. The scale is massive: the dining hall is , the walls high at the eaves with a cathedral ceiling high at the ridge, with a huge fireplace on one side. Floors, walls and ceilings were all of polished planks and peeled and polished natural logs. In 1896, Durant sold Uncas to J. Pierpont Morgan with . After Morgan's death in 1913, the camp stayed in the Morgan family until 1947, when it was sold to the widow of

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Sr. (October 20, 1877 – May 7, 1915) was an American businessman and member of the Vanderbilt family. A sportsman, he participated in and pioneered a number of related endeavors. He died in the sinking of the RMS Lus ...

, who also owned Sagamore. General and Mrs.

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under pres ...

, as guests of Mrs. Vanderbilt, entertained

Madame Chiang Kai-shek Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling; March 4, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang (), was a Chinese political figure and socialite. The youngest of the Soong sisters, she married Chiang Kai-shek and played a prom ...

at Uncas in 1949. Mrs. Vanderbilt left Uncas to a foundation, which sold it; eventually it was bought by the

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population is 338,329, making it the state's ...

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

s who used it as a camp. In 1975, it was returned to private use. The camp was included in a multiple property submission for listing on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1986, and was listed there in 1987. The camp was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on October 7, 2008.

References

Sources

* Gilborn, Craig. ''Durant: Fortunes and Woodland Camps of a Family in the Adirondacks''. Utica, NY: North Country Books, 1981. * Gilborn, Craig. ''Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950''. Blue Mountain Lake, NY: Adirondack Museum; Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000. * Kaiser, Harvey. ''Great Camps of the Adirondacks.'' Boston: David R. Godine, 1982.

External links

St. Hubert's Isle - Great Camps - Camp Uncas

{{Registered Historic Places Adirondack Great Camps National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Hamilton County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Hamilton County, New York Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)