Osprey Island, in the middle of Raquette Lake, is where the Reverend William H. H. Murray, a prominent minister from Boston, camped for a few summers in the 1860s. In 1869 he published a book based on his time there, titled Adventures in the Wilderness (also called Camp-Life in the Adirondacks). The book was popular, and inspired many Americans to think about the woods romantically, as a place of purity, freedom, independence, and recreation. So many urban visitors followed Murray’s detailed directions to the Adirondacks (which included what trains to take and when), that when they arrived, with no experience, they were referred to as Murray’s Fools. A camping industry grew quickly in response, with local guides, outfitters, campgrounds, and, eventually hotels, which sprung up all over the Adirondacks in the late 1800s. Murray’s camp site on Osprey Island was purchased by a cousin of the noted camp designer William West Durant, and developed into Camp Fairview, which later burned down. William West Durant is known as the father of the Adirondack Style, for a series of unique and influential camps he built in the region over a 25-year period, which were purchased by wealthy and socially prominent families, like his own.
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