ADK Forever Wild: The Historic and Future Adirondack Antidote?

For seventy years (1884-1954), the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium (aka Trudeau Sanatorium) was a safe haven for tuberculosis (TB) sufferers. In 1884, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau – diagnosed with TB himself – established the sanitarium in Saranac Lake under the impression that the clean Adirondack Mountain air helped cure TB patients. In the sanitarium early days, patients were treated in a one-room cottage named “Little Red” and followed a regimen of strict diet and hours outside in the “fresh, cold” mountain air.

Little Red (https://localwiki.org/hsl/Trudeau_Sanatorium_History)

As Trudeau’s “rest cure” treatment claimed high success rates, a number of wealthy, New York City sportsmen began to sponsor the sanitarium. Their wives often held charity fundraisers that also helped pay for the sanitarium’s services. It was well known that although the services were not free-of-charge, the sanitarium often treated those who were unable to pay the full costs for TB treatment.

Backed by wealthy sponsors, the sanatorium eventually expanded from the single cottage to a 90-acre estate populated with rest homes. These homes were furnished with “cure porches” that allowed patient to breathe in the mountainous air. While exposure to the fresh air on the porch, patients were also encouraged to socialize on keep morale high. At the peak of the illness, TB patients were shunned by society and had to look at each other for camaraderie and support.

TB patients on a "cure porch" (Adirondack Explorer)

With the advent of effective antibiotics to treat TB, patient occupation at the sanitarium dwindled. The sanatorium eventually closed in 1954. Today, Little Red and the Trudeau statue can be find at a new site as memorials. Moreover, tours are offered by Historic Saranac Lake, a non-profit organization focused on historic preservation.

Although the sanatorium did not provide a scientific remedy, its services were important insofar as they maintained hope and fostered friendship among TB patients. With regard to climate change and its consequence – specifically the spread of infectious disease – will the Adirondacks once again become a safe haven for the sick? Perhaps people will migrate to the Adirondacks as they seek both altitude and latitude safety from vector-borne diseases. Maybe another physician in the future will profit from the “Adirondack antidote” just like Trudeau.