Great Camp Sagamore
Great Camp Sagamore is one of several historic Great Camps located in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State. History Great Camp Sagamore was constructed by William West Durant on Sagamore Lake between 1895 and 1897. Prior to Sagamore, William Durant had constructed Camp Pine Knot (purchased by Collis P. Huntington and now the Huntington Memorial Outdoor Education Center ) on nearby Raquette Lake and Camp Uncas (once owned by J. P. Morgan) on Lake Mohegan. All three camps are still in use today. The camp is arranged in two complexes a half-mile apart, the Upper, or worker's complex, and the Lower, or guest complex. The guests would not have frequented the worker's complex, as the buildings at the Upper complex are much more utilitarian than those in the Guest complex, and without the embellishment of the buildings designed for entertaining. Sagamore served as a sylvan setting in which the richest families in America could relax, party, and get a feeling of returning to nature. All of this, however, was accomplished without leaving the comforts of civilization behind. In 1901 Durant was forced to sell Sagamore because a lawsuit by his sister over his mismanagement of their mother's estate