Adirondack Hamlets to Huts acquires first property in Wells, plans lodge for outdoor enthusiasts

Property near Griffin Gorge would accommodate up to 42 guests and connect Speculator to Wells via trails

By Mike Lynch

The nonprofit Adirondack Hamlets to Huts acquired its first property this week in the southern Adirondacks and plans to build a lodge at some point in the future. 

The 18-acre property in the town of Wells was donated by the Adirondack Land Trust (ALT) in a deal finished on Tuesday. The land is located on Route 8 across the road from the Griffin Gorge, a waterfall on the East Branch of the Sacandaga River. 

Hamlets to Huts has a goal of building a lodge that would accommodate between 36 and 42 people and would have private rooms and bunk rooms, a kitchen, and an on-site caretaker overseeing the property, said Hamlets to Huts Executive Director Joe Dadey. The lodge would also include a community meeting space, such as a classroom, for educational and social purposes.

Dadey cautioned that these are all things under consideration and will be further vetted as the plans develop. There is currently no cost estimate for the project at this stage, he said. 

The property would serve as a basecamp for hiking, gravel biking, rock climbing, fishing, and boating in the summer and snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter, Dadey said. 

“We expect that it will take some time to raise the money to build the place of lodging that we envision,” said Dadey, whose nonprofit has its store and office in Saranac Lake. “During that interim, we still want to have people on the property, enjoying it, using it.” 

That means possibly having glamping tents and other tent sites on the property before a new lodge is built. But those accommodations could remain even after a new facility has been built. 

“We want to offer lodging…and overnight stays at different price points,” Dadey said. 

This transaction includes a public easement that ALT plans to donate to the state Department of Environmental Conservation at a future date. It will allow the DEC to build a trailhead with parking across the road from the gorge and adjacent to the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, connecting to a trail that leads south toward Wells through the Pine Orchard, a well-known stand of old growth white pine and hemlocks.

The nonprofit plans to work with local and state officials to create a hut-to-hut route between the village of Speculator 12 miles to the northwest and the hamlet of Wells, 7 miles to the southwest in southern Hamilton County. It would consist mainly of existing trails. 

“We want more people to experience all that this beautiful part of the Adirondack Park has to offer, and by doing so, bring more business to the surrounding communities,” Dadey said. 

The property is part of a larger transaction involving 78 acres that had been owned by the estate and heirs of Fernando Sisto. The Sisto family donated 37 acres to the state in June 2024 for inclusion in the Forest Preserve and the remaining 41 acres were bought by ALT in September for $80,000. 

ALT gave Hamlets to Huts 18 of those acres and plans to sell the remaining 23 acres to the state for the Forest Preserve. 

“As part of the larger project, we are delighted to partner with DEC on strategic additions to the Forest Preserve and proud to help set the stage for an innovative front country economic opportunity,” said Adirondack Land Trust Executive Director Mike Carr.

The Hamlets to Huts property does include a hotel in disrepair that the nonprofit plans to have torn down next summer. Dadey estimates the work will cost $80,000.

“There is no viable option to save the structure,” Dadey said. 

Dadey said they will look to integrate some elements of the old hotel into the new lodge, if possible. 

“We are grateful to the Adirondack Land Trust for making this donation of land,” Dadey said. “We also thank the Town of Wells, the Village of Speculator, the Hamilton County Industrial Development Agency, New York State DEC, and Adirondack civic leader Bill Farber for their support and guidance throughout the process.”

Bill Farber, who retired as the Morehouse town supervisor in 2023 and is a former chair of Hamilton County Board of Supervisors, was involved in this land deal from the beginning. He said a key to the deal was that stakeholders, ranging from town officials to environmentalists, got together early in the process to discuss the best uses for the land, making it a successful transaction in the end.

“I think it is a wonderful opportunity for Hamlets the Huts,” he said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the communities, and I think it’s great that we were able to do it in a way that got everybody’s buy-in and solicited participation up front, so we’re not watching people look for ways to duke it out after the fact.”

Hamlets to Huts gained status as a nonprofit in 2017 and has been creating a series of self-guided and guided routes throughout the park, connecting people to communities, lodging facilities, and the park’s woods and waters.  

The nonprofit has an office, store and information center in downtown Saranac Lake and promotes several self-guided trips in the southwestern and central Adirondacks and is developing additional ones. 

Photo at top: From left, Hamilton County IDA Executive Director Christy Wilt, Hamlets to Huts Executive Director Joe Dadey, local government leader Bill Farber, and ALT’s Megan Stevenson at Griffin Gorge on the East Branch of the Sacandaga River in the town of Wells. Courtesy of Adirondack Land Trust and Erika Bailey