WXPort
Sponsored by: Plattsburgh Area Weather Sponsored by CVPH Medical Center

Resources

print this story   Print this story
email this story   E-mail this story
  Post to del.icio.us

Photos


Eagle Island, accessible only by boat (the Girl Scout boat launches from a dock off Gilpin Road in Santa Clara), is near the Narrows at Upper Saranac Lake.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


The Mariners- sleeping quarters at the camp reunion stretched out on the boathouse porch, overlooked by the mountains beyond Upper Saranac Lake.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


The historic raised walkway connects the lodge at Eagle Island with the dining cabin.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


"Dart" Emerson, the first waterfront director at Eagle Island Camp, turned 86 at the camp reunion this year.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


Kathi Quigley, Emily Novick and Ginny Hildebrand (from left) recount Eagle Island Camp adventures they had between 1958 and 1965.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


Striking rustic architecture of the Main Lodge includes extensive stick work and wide porches. All the Great Camp buildings at Eagle Island were designed by William Lincoln Coulter.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


Kayakers paddle toward the boathouse docks.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /


A sleeping cottage just off the dining room was originally used for guests, later as the camp director-s office.
Staff Photo/Kim Smith Dedam /

This landmark 70th summer season began with a return.

More than 80 former campers ages 19 to 86 gathered to sing, swim, sail and reawaken Eagle Island memories.

Dorothy "Dart" Emerson, who celebrated her 86th birthday at the reunion, was here in 1938 when the camp first opened.

She was the first waterfront director and recalled the guarded reception they had from neighbors.

"They were Rockefellers, Colgates and Carnegies," Emerson said with a lift of eyebrows. "We had some public-relations work to do, of course -- here was this camp for girls right in the middle of the lake."

Sundays, Eagle Island Camp dispatched an entire choir paddling over for weekly services on nearby Chapel Island.

"We went by sailboat, by canoe, by rowboat, any way we could get there," Emerson said. "It didn't take long before they decided these are OK people."

Emerson stood in the dining pavilion, an eight-sided building wrapped in glass windows, and noticed how little had changed.

An antique chime affixed to the wall still calls girls to dinner.

Five or six chairs sat before a gaping stone fireplace yet warm with coals from a morning fire.

"It's something isn't it?" she said, her grin mischievous.

The New York Times 105 years ago boasted how Morton's "new camp" on Eagle Island had a dining room "octagonal in form, finished in peeled spruce" with glass pane windows and "a striking feature in the ceiling, where an umbrella, so called, has been constructed."

The room's ceiling does resemble a parasol popped open to keep the rain out.

Emerson opened the dining room door leading outside to a long, covered rustic walkway that forms a bridge to the lodge house.

The several lodge rooms are situated around a great room guarded by rows of the heads of mighty antlered beasts.



print this story    email this story   




ADVERTISEMENT


Visit zip2save.com for all your favorite circulars & coupons!
Circulars
Coupons
Deals Zip2Save.com, online advertising circulars, deals, coupons and travel specials.

Premier Guide
How to Contact Us

MAIN OFFICE
Press-Republican
P.O. Box 459
170 Margaret Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(518) 561-2300


NEWSROOM
Hours: Weekdays 8 a.m. to midnight; Weekends, 2 p.m. to midnight
Phone: 518-565-4131 Fax: 518-561-3362
E-mail: news@pressrepublican.com
Sports: 518-565-4124
Features: 518-565-4138


CIRCULATION/CUSTOMER SERVICE
Hours: Weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday (phone only) 8 a.m. to noon.
Circulation Phone: 518-565-4110


CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8am to 5pm
Phone: 518-565-4105 Fax: 518-561-1172
E-mail: classifieds@pressrepublican.com
Obituaries & Legals: 518-565-4178
Obituary E-mails: obits@pressrepublican.com
Legal Ad E-mails: legalads@pressrepublican.com
Today's Front Page
View P-R Frontpage:   Click on the image of the Press-Republican frontpage to view our frontpage archives.

Subscribe:  Click here to receive a subscription to the Press-Republican for as little as $13.00 per month.

Frontpage Reprints:  Click here to purchase a reproduction of a full page of the Press-Republican.
Today's Front Page
SITE INDEX
NEWS:  Local News,  Police, Fire Courts,  Business,  Money & Markets,  Education,  Environment,  Outdoors,  Politics & Elections,  Births,  Engagements,  Weddings,  Anniversaries,  Property Transfers,  Lookback,  Weather
SPORTS:  Local Sports,  High School,  College,  Youth & Adult,  Sports Shorts,  Outdoors,  Fishing,  Flashback,  Today's Sports Events
OPINION:  Editorials,  Cheers & Jeers,  In My Opinion,  Letters,  Speakout,  Columns,  Blogs
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:  Out & About,  Movie Reviews,  Entertainment News,  Celebrity News,  Lotteries,  Crosswords,  Sudoku,  Horoscopes
LIFESTYLES:  People,  Home & Garden,  Health,  Seniors,  Faith & Spirituality,  Family
OBITUARIES:  Current obituaries & search past year,  Obituaries archive,  Guestbooks,  Obituary submission guidelines
PHOTOS, ETC.:  Featured galleries,  Recent newspaper photos,  Bonus Sports,  Community Events,  Full Page Reprints,  Audio Slide Shows,  Video,  Webcams
SEARCH ARCHIVES:  Past 7 Days,  2007 - Present,  1999 - 2007,  Very Old Archives (Historic Newspapers)
LIVING HERE:  Clinton Co.,  Essex Co.,  Franklin Co.,  Day Away
MARKETPLACE:  Classifieds,  Legal Ads Find a job,  Find a car,  Buy a Classified ad,  Free Coupons, Advertiser Index
ABOUT US:  Contact us,  Advertising Information,   
© 2009, CNHI

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.