The New Great Camp & Forbes Magazine

The New Great Camps & Forbes Magazine

According to Forbes Travel Guide: “exceptionally well-heeled travelers seeking a glamorous stay in the Adirondacks,” need look no further than The Point. The five-star rated hotel resides on a Rockefellers former camp. The Great Camps of the 19^th century in the Adirondacks have transformed dramatically over the last hundred years. While the camps have changed quantitatively (in physical size and attendance) the qualitative makeup of the camps largely holds true to their original ethos. They are reserved for the extremely wealthy to relax and gain a sense of the outdoors. The Great Camps continue to live on through elitism and an increasing reality of nature being a spectacle more than a part of everyday life.

 The Forbes article that promotes this particular piece of land, actually refers to the area as “roughing it,” for the wealthy. Admittedly, Forbes as a magazine, writes to an upper-class readership. In class we have questioned the validity of ‘camps,’ for the rich in the Adirondacks, but for better or worse, they endure.

However much we may find ourselves desiring to poke holes in the idea that these camps are really camps, or that anyone at them is really ‘roughing it,’ we have to keep our own position in mind. To any person in the world that still lives off of their land (an admittedly small number) we must seem like such hypocrites in criticizing those that don’t camp as well as we do. Ultimately, we are all out of touch with nature. That doesn’t mean we need to let go of our possessions and try to survive in the forest, but rather we should work toward a coexistence. Instead of viewing the world as technology and human beings versus nature, we should embrace both and somehow truly evolve.

http://www.forbestravelguide.com/the-adirondacks-new-york/what-are-the-best-places-to-stay-in-the-the-adirondacks?preferredAttributionId=forbes