A small rail depot, along a stretch of old railroad tracks in a remote part of Adirondack Park, is the only structure remaining from the center of a vast wilderness estate amassed by William Seward Webb, a prominent railroad magnate. Webb built many of the railways that brought people to the Adirondacks, including the one that brought him to this doorstep of his private 188,000-acre park within the park, which he called Nehasane Park. In 1892, when Adirondack Park was established, this was the largest of 40 or so such private reserves, which otherwise averaged around 23,000 acres. The main camp, Forest Lodge, was a massive structure on the shore of Lake Lila, named after his wife (who was the daughter of the greater railroad magnate William H. Vanderbilt). In 1979, the state acquired 7,200 acres of Nehasane Park, including the lodge, which it tore down, as was required by the “forever wild” article of the state constitution that created Adirondack Park, and as was requested by Webb’s heirs. The train station, however, was allowed to remain. The property is now part of the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area.
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