Camp Topridge

Infobox_nrhp | name =Camp Topridge
nrhp_type =

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caption = The boathouse at Topridge
nearest_city= Keese Mill, New York
locmapin = New York
area =
built =1923
architect= Theodore Blake
architecture= Other
added = November 07, 1986
governing_body = Private
mpsub=Great Camps of the Adirondacks TR
refnum=86002952cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Camp Topridge is an Adirondack Great Camp built in 1923 by Marjorie Merriweather Post, founder of General Foods and the daughter of C. W. Post. The "camp", in Keese Mill, in the U.S. state of New York, was considered by Post to be a "rustic retreat"; it consisted of 68 buildings, including a fully staffed main lodge and private guest cabins, each staffed with its own butler. It was one of the largest of the Adirondack great camps and possibly the most elaborately furnished.

It is located on convert|207|acre|km2|1 on an esker between the Spectacle Ponds and Upper St. Regis Lake, about convert|12|mi|km northwest of Saranac Lake, New York.

As originally built, the property could only be reached by water, though a driveway was added in years later. Guests arrived by float-plane or Post's yacht at a private dock, and thence via funicular to the main building at the top of the ridge. Three times a week, guests would gather in the 80 by convert|100|ft|m|sing=on living room where full-length movies could be screened; an adjoining dining room seated thirty guests. Many of the original furnishings of the room, which included an extensive collection of American Indian artifacts, are now in the Smithsonian Institution. Among the many elaborate structures on the property is a Russian dacha built for Post's third husband, who had served as ambassador to the Soviet Union

The estate was designed by local builder Ben Muncil in collaboration with New York architect Theodore Blake.

Post left the property to the State of New York. The main lodge, most of the buildings and convert|105|acre|km2|1 were offered for sale, with the remaining acreage to be made part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It is now in private hands.

The property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

ources

*Kaiser, Harvey H., "Great camps of the Adirondacks." Boston: David R. Godine, 1982. ISBN 0-87923-308-7.

References

External links

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E4DD123EF930A15753C1A961958260&sec=&pagewanted=all "New York Times", "Out-Twigging the Neighbors; In the Adirondacks, Great Camps Are Sprouting Again." Includes news of recent renovations.]