Camp Santanoni is one of the most dramatic of the large Great Camps of the Adirondacks. It was built starting in 1892, on 13,000 acres of private land, with its own lake, located near Newcomb, some distance from where most of the Great Camps were built. Designed by the noted architect Robert H. Robertson, the camp was made for Robert C. Pruyn, a prominent Albany-based businessman, and grew to have 45 buildings. Pruyn’s heirs sold the camp to the Melvin family, who gave it to the state in 1971. The fate of the camp seemed doomed, as under the “forever wild” clause of the New York Constitution, any improvements on land acquired by the state in Adirondack Park had to be removed. Architectural preservationists pushed for an exception to be made, and were eventually successful, due to the efforts of Howard Kirschenbaum and the Adirondack Architectural Heritage organization, which he established. The camp is now preserved and open to the public. Its remoteness is also maintained, as visitors cannot drive to it. They have to walk or bicycle down the five-mile access road, or take a horse-drawn wagon shuttle that runs in the summer. In the winter most of the buildings are closed, though visitors can take cross-country skis, or snowshoes, to visit the site.
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