The Adirondacks Remind me of Home

After our field trip and then further discussion of Great Camps in class this week I starting thinking about this uniquely Adirondack tradition and the history these Great Camps that make them so culturally important. Coming from Minnesota I don't know a family that doesn't have a cabin up in the Northern woods of Minnesota and Wisconsin. However, most of these cabins are small to mid size and situated back in the trees, these woods are also sparsely populated by small towns. At first glance the Adirondacks reminded me a lot of the beautiful Northwoods that I spent so much time in growing up. As I learned more about the Adirondacks the farther they were removed from my previous experiences with the woods of Minnesota and even other state parks. The concept of Great Camps was one that particularly caught my attention as a difference between my experiences with cabins and those of the Adirondacks. Until our discussion this week I was having a hard tim getting past my own biases to understand why these elite families even bothered to come out and spend time in nature. To a certain extent it didn't seem like they were evening trying to commune with nature at all, simply moving their wealthy lives to a slightly different setting. However, as we talked in class I began to better understand that Great Camps serve an incredible historical and cultural purpose to the Adirondacks as a whole and the families themselves. Similar to the cabins that I know so well in the Midwest the Great Camps were also passed down through families and represented memories of family gatherings and important time spent together away from the stresses of daily life. These families were also very interested in recreation and conservation of the land that they owned, making them some of the most important environmentalists of Adirondack Park.

As we discussed in class how expensive maintaining Great Camp Santanoni was I became curious as to how families to which the other Great Camps have been passed down to maintain them as well. I know that the Camps are often split up and sold to multiple different families who all get a share of the property, however I did not know that they are also often rented. I think that this is a truly amazing way to preserve the history of the Great Camps and make it accessible to people who would not normally be able to maintain an entire camp. I have come to realize that the Great Camps are a really special and unique aspect of the history of the Adirondacks and that they are so much more than just another home for the wealthy families who live there. These unique places remind me of the special places that exist in and around the Boundary Waters and Northern Minnesota, really making me feel more connected to the Adirondacks.