Whatever Happened to Follensby? Follensbee?

After Molly's presentation, I was really interested in what became of Follensby Pond after the "philosophers" were there for just a summer. According to a Daily Gazette article from 2008, Follensby is the largest single-party owned water in the Northeast. It is about five miles in length and covers 1,000 acres. The entrance is marked by an iron gate often called "McCormick's Gate" by John McCormick, the 94-year owner of Follensby. There is also a caretaker of Follensby named Thomas Lake, who has worked there since 1970.
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/jun/22/0622_philomain/?print

McCormick purchased the 14, 500 acre-tract that includes Follensby pond in 1952. In more recent years after the death of his wife, he has attempted to sell the land. In 1994, there was an unsuccessful attempt for the state to purchase the tract. There is also the potential possibility that the Adirondack chapter of the Nature Conservancy may hold the property until the state is able to buy it.

Today, there aren't many physical marks of the time that the philosophers spent at Follensby at "Camp Maple." Thomas Lake once found a shattered whisky broken bottle from the 1950s that he believes was from the site, one of the physical artifacts reflecting the Philosopher's Camp. Now a flat clearing and a moss-capped boulder are the only features that mark the site where Emerson and the great philosophers camped for a summer.

 On an interesting note, the moss-covered boulder that is still there today was featured in Stillman's Philosopher's Camp (1858). It is the same boulder that Stillman used to identify the camp in 1883 when he returned to Follensby after twenty five years.

(There's the boulder in the right hand corner!)