About Great Camp Sagamore
Great Camp Sagamore was built in 1897 by visionary Great Camp designer William West Durant on 1,526 acres of remote wilderness in the Adirondack Park. The Camp was a wilderness retreat for the Vanderbilt family for half a century. It is now a National Historic Landmark managed by a non-profit educational institution as a public trust open to all.
Our Mission
“To steward historic Great Camp Sagamore as a welcoming place for education and connections to history, nature, and community.”
Land Acknowledgment
Great Camp Sagamore sits on lands and waters cared for by the Algonkian people known as the Mahican for over ten thousand years and more recently by the Iroquoian-speaking people we now call the Mohawk, and the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki people. We remember their connection to this place and recognize the many hardships they continue to endure. In the 19th century, Native people from these nations began to work as guides and artisans in the Sagamore region. Many of Mahican, Mohawk, and Abenaki descent still live in the Adirondacks to this day. We give thanks for the opportunity to share and protect this place and to better incorporate at the Sagamore, Native values of land management and conservation ethics. We hope that this is an opening to learn more.
Please read our entire land acknowledgement to better understand the deep Native connections to this area--past, present, and future.