Lodge's future debated

debar pond lodge
Environmentalists say 17-room camp on Debar Pond should be destroyed or moved out of Forest Preserve. (Photo by George Earl)

By GEORGE EARL

Debar Pond is a natural gem in the northern Adirondacks, a mile-long glacial lake nestled between Baldface and Debar mountains, with views of the Loon Lake Mountains to the south. Though somewhat dwarfed by its rugged surroundings, the pond is large and cold enough to support salmon. And it lies wholly within the forever-wild Forest Preserve.

But Debar Pond is not wholly wild. On the northeast shore are a seventeen-room peeled-cedar camp and outbuildings clustered under a grove of mature white pines. The 1940s-era compound and the pond were purchased by the state in 1979 from Farwell Perry, a veteran Navy pilot who used to fly in and out by seaplane. The pond was one of the largest privately owned lakes in the Adirondacks when the state acquired it.

The sale came with a condition: the compound and twenty-five acres remained under lease to Perry (and subsequent lodgers) until 2004. The state’s original intention was to raze the buildings as soon as it gained control of them and allow nature to reclaim the manicured, grassy site.
Instead, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has allowed Forest Ranger Captain John Streiff and his family to live there for almost five years. DEC officials say Streiff is providing security until the agency decides what to do with the buildings. The decision will be part of DEC’s management plan for the Debar Mountain Wild Forest. DEC hopes to issue a draft plan within two years.

Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) and the tiny town of Duane (population about 160), where Debar Pond is located, are pressing the state to preserve the buildings. AARCH has asked the federal government to place the compound on the National Register of Historic Places, which could make it more difficult, politically, for DEC to demolish the structures.
AARCH spokeswoman Susan Arena compared Debar Pond Lodge to the Great Camps of the 1800s. “Just because it wasn’t built by a Vanderbilt or someone of extreme recognition, so what?” she said. “The Great Camp tradition didn’t end in the Gilded Age. The state finds uses for buildings with zero architectural interest, so why can’t they find a use for this one?”
Environmental activists, however, say the buildings should be destroyed. “Our point of view is that preservation [of the buildings] is a mistake,” said John Sheehan, a spokesman for the Adirondack Council. “As soon as DEC takes possession, the property becomes part of the Forest Preserve, and as far as we’re concerned the only thing to do is to get the matches out.”

In a few cases, the state has allowed historical buildings to remain in the Forest Preserve. They include the farmhouse of abolitionist John Brown near Lake Placid, the ruins of the stone forts at Crown Point, and the elaborate Camp Santanoni in Newcomb. DEC also has permitted abandoned fire towers to remain in the Preserve.

“I would challenge the notion that there is something unusual about preserving these buildings,” AARCH Executive Director Steven Engelhart said. “The public is interested in seeing these places. The question isn’t whether this is legal; it is what their best use is.”

In 2004, the year the state took possession of the lodge, Duane residents formed the Debar Parks Commission to explore possible uses for the buildings. They came up with the idea of a backcountry resort that would be run by Paul Smith’s College hospitality students and serve as an educational center.

Gary Cring, a member of the commission, is frustrated by DEC’s indecision and by its management of the property. He said DEC has gated the access road, prohibiting the public from launching boats on the beach in front of the camp. Paddlers can carry canoes to another part of the pond via a quarter-mile foot trail, but Cring said the portage, which includes a narrow boardwalk, is too difficult for the elderly and infirm.

“When the state came in, put the gate up, and moved the ranger in,” he said, “our initial thought was, ‘That’s fine until they decide what they want to do.’ We didn’t think it was going to be four and a half years. Do I have the right to go there? I think so, but I’m not sure. I feel like I’m invading someone’s privacy even though it’s public land.”

DEC spokesman David Winchell acknowledged in an e-mail that the state owns the lodge, but he stressed that for now it’s also the home of the Streiff family. “DEC asks that the public respect this and not enter the Debar Lodge grounds without prior permission,” he said.

Streiff pays DEC to stay at the lodge. He said he’s pleased to be able to stay there while the agency makes up its mind, but he added that living on public land does have its drawbacks. One time a visitor went onto his porch, picked up a chair, set it on the lawn, and sat down. When Streiff asked why he took his chair, the visitor replied, “This is all state land isn’t it?” “That’s true,” Streiff replied, “but that’s my deck furniture.”

Article 14 of the state constitution, adopted in 1894, requires that state land in the Adirondacks “shall be forever kept as wild forest lands,” but the clause is open to interpretation. A state law adopted in 1983 allows for historical structures in the Preserve if they are on the New York State Register of Historic Places and are used for public recreation and education or for administration.

Engelhart said Debar Pond Lodge would need to be added to the state register before it could be put on the national one. He hopes it will be placed on both before the end of the year.

“I see the architecture of the main lodge as being a continuation of the design and construction of rustic lodges that began at the end of the Civil War and continued well into the twentieth century,” he said. “The way the building is situated takes full advantage of the site. Logs, stone, wood, and shingles blend with the landscape. The building is large, comfortable, and fits with the location. It’s everything a camp should be.”

But David Gibson, executive director of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, contends that the lodge lacks the architectural and historical significance of, say, Camp Santanoni. “The law is pretty cut and dried,” he said. “What the law is saying to me is that the building has to come down and that this is treated as Wild Forest. To my mind, this is not a Santanoni; this is not a historic structure. There is no justification for it to be used as a ranger facility.”

The Adirondack Council’s Sheehan said Debar Pond Lodge “appears to be continually used as a private residence, which we don’t see any provision for in the constitution. So we’d like to see how DEC is justifying this currently. I think they are risking a civil lawsuit compelling them to enforce Article 14.”
Duane officials say the site is of historic importance to their community. In the late 1800s, the secluded lake underwent an unusual transformation under the ownership of Robert Schroeder, the son of a wealthy German brewer. A fishing trip to Debar Pond inspired him to buy the tract and create a latter-day feudal paradise. He built a sixty-room stone castle, cultivated a three-hundred-acre hops field, and provided housing for thirty to forty families who labored over the thin, unproductive soil.

For a time, Schroeder lived lavishly in his mountain kingdom, importing guests, food, and champagne from New York City and clearing a large racetrack for his stable of thoroughbreds. But Schroeder’s baronial sanctuary eventually succumbed to the realities of a short growing season and the expense of transporting goods to faraway markets. The enterprise consumed both his and his wife’s inheritance (she was the daughter of a brewer in New York). The property was auctioned off at a huge loss, and the couple ended up living in a Brooklyn flat. His wife took her life by gas asphyxiation. Schroeder died in the same way, a few years later, in 1913.

Later owners, including one who tried raising silver foxes, also failed to make money from the property. The ruins of the Schroeder castle were razed after Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wheeler of Palm Beach, Fla., bought the property in 1939. In its place, the Wheelers constructed the present camp and outbuildings, including a boathouse, guide’s house, garage, greenhouse, stable, powerhouse, and lean-to.

The lodge updates Schroeder’s theme of opulence in the wilderness. It includes a hot tub, satellite TV, barroom, billiard room, and badminton courts. Farwell Perry, who bought the property in 1959, cleared a half-mile landing strip (still visible on satellite maps) that he used on days when the water was too choppy to touch down on.

Gil Paddock, chairman of the Debar Parks Commission, said the town would like the lodge to cater to horseback riders, among others. He suggests that trails could be built to connect existing horse trails in the Debar Mountain Wild Forest. He hopes the lodge would bring much-needed tourists to Duane.

So far, DEC has not been receptive to the idea of having an overnight lodge in the Forest Preserve. It’s something that has never been done. Nevertheless, DEC Regional Director Betsy Lowe said nothing has been ruled out.

“Technically, the law doesn’t make it easy to hang onto structures on Wild Forest land,” she said. “However, a variety of options will be considered … as we move forward in drafting the unit management plan for the Debar Mountain Wild Forest.”

It’s unknown when the draft plan will be released for public review. Meanwhile, Lowe said, DEC will continue to maintain the buildings so that preservation remains an option. “That’s all there really is to say about it,” she said.