As you'll all see tomorrow in my presentation, I am so conflicted about the nature of the Great Camps in the Adirondacks. At first glance, I see obnoxious, over-the-top luxurious vacation homes, far larger and more impactful than a simple tent filled campground, or a small cabin. And much more than is necessary for an enjoyable trip to the ADKs. After reading Schneider, and looking more closely at these "camps," I've both confirmed my judgements about the elitist culture that came along with these wealthy visitors, and forced myself to become more open-minded to this form of Adirondack-ing. In essence, these industrialized people are not unlike the average adventurer in terms of their admirations about the Park, and aspirations for its use as a retreat. Used to a more industrialized, luxurious culture than most, they simply went about their hunting, fishing, boating, and hiking in a different way, bringing their homes and lifestyles to the Adirondacks instead of leaving them behind (probably in New York City).
Although places like the Lake Placid Club did have extremely racist and elitist policies and ideals, many of the members and owners of these large camps and clubs cared about much more than just being the most fashionable. They ended up being some of the biggest proponents of the forever wild clause and, because they had so much influence, were successful in protecting and adding to the Forest Preserve. Today, a number of Great Camps and their acreage have become a part of the state-owned sections of the Adirondack Park and are now considered forever-wild land.
This, as things in this class always do, leads to a big question and conflict. Is this land really forever-wild land if their is a huge man-made structure in the middle of it? Do we get to preserve our history in the form of the Great Camps, or will this disrupt the sanctity of the Forest Preserve? This tugs, once again, at our definition of wilderness and begins to question, not so much the importance of further protection of the land (as these buildings already exist), but the importance of preserving our history.
I think the point that you bring up here (and that we demonstrated today in class) about people bringing their city lifestyles to the Adirondacks is an important one. I never really thought about that before but it is so true that many people, myself included, want to experience the wilderness and all its restorative powers without leaving all their creature comforts behind. The ironic thing though is that as people move into the park and bring those luxuries and amenities with them, the park becomes less and less wild and the reason they chose to make a home in the Adirondacks is undermined--eventually, all the power lines and cell towers that supply the comforts that people want will turn the wild regions into just another industrialized cityscape.
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