Accessibility issues at Great Camp Santanoni

DEC terminates contract with horse-and-wagon operator; continues search for solution to providing required services for people with disabilities

By Gwendolyn Craig

Though spring has arrived, it’s unclear how the state Department of Environmental Conservation will provide access for people with disabilities to Great Camp Santanoni in the town of Newcomb, something it is legally required to do from May to October. 

Forest preserve complexities, legal settlements and a literal case of “putting the cart before the horse,” as one Newcomb resident noted, has led to gridlock. The state’s request for information advertised in January did not reap easy solutions, records show.

The department has also terminated its contract with the current horse-and-wagon operator, Larry Newcombe, “for continued non-compliance,” including “refusal to pull the wheelchair-accessible horse-drawn wagon that DEC purchased for his use at Great Camp Santanoni.” Newcombe’s last name is not related to the town.

Newcombe has provided rides for more than a decade at the historical site and called the DEC’s decision to end his contract “totally rotten.” Newcombe and the DEC are in discussion over allowing him to operate under a separate permit, both parties said.

But the DEC still hopes to find another horse team to pull the 3,500-pound wagon it commissioned to accommodate wheelchair users and is “evaluating other options to provide non-motorized access to Camp Santanoni this season.”

A Great Camp in the woods

Great Camp Santanoni is the only publicly owned former retreat of its kind in the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. It was built by Robert C. Pruyn, an Albany banker and entrepreneur, who used the 12,900-acre complex to entertain President Theodore Roosevelt, among many other famous people. 

There is an approximately 5-mile trail to get to the Great Camp, which due to rules governing the park’s public forest preserve, cannot be traversed by motorized vehicles.

Ted Galusha, a Warrensburg resident, and two other people also with physical disabilities, sued the state more than two decades ago under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was frustrated by the lack of access to forest preserve lands, particularly for people with mobility disabilities.

As part of a 2001 settlement, the DEC was required to provide access for people with disabilities to Great Camp Santanoni from May through October.

At the heart of the debate: a heavy wagon

While many with mobility limitations have successfully used Newcombe’s wagon, it does not meet ADA specifications. Newcombe said he has given about five people in wheelchairs rides to the Great Camp in his tenure.

Scott Remington, a Brant Lake resident who uses a wheelchair and is a member of the DEC and Adirondack Park Agency Accessibility Advisory Committee, said there’s no way for a wheelchair user to get on Newcombe’s wagon without assistance. “That’s not how it’s supposed to be,” he said.

So the DEC designed a wagon that could accommodate “13 people in forward-facing seats, five wheelchairs or a combination thereof.” It spent $37,320 on the 3,500-pound cart.

“Nobody called me when this wagon was being built,” Newcombe, 71, told the Explorer. “It’s just horrible, horrible, heavy.”

The DEC, however, said it did talk to Newcombe and its Accessibility Advisory Committee “on the wagon’s specifications prior to ordering the wagon from an Ohio company that specializes in horse-drawn wagon construction, all to ensure that the wagon would meet both accessibility standards and all requirements – including weight – associated with horse drawn wagon operation.”

Newcombe said this is the second wagon the DEC designed and built without input from experts. The first one, he said, fell apart.

Newcombe refused to use the latest wagon for fear his horses would be hurt pulling it up and down the narrow pathway. The wagon’s size gave little space to turn around at the Great Camp, and no room for hikers or bikers to pass by on the drive in. He also worried about the safety of the people strapped into the cart. 

The DEC sent Newcombe a letter that he was breaching his contract, which was set to expire on Oct. 31. On Friday, the department said it had terminated his contract.

“DEC has invited Mr. Newcombe to apply for a permit if he would like to continue offering rides for a fee to the general public using his own wagon,” a spokesperson added. Newcombe said he’s still in discussion with the state over what services he may or may not provide.

Community members weigh in

At the end of January, the DEC put out a request for information seeking potential horse-and-driver teams.

The DEC’s announcement took Newcombe and many others involved with the Great Camp by surprise.

In a letter to DEC, Newcomb Supervisor Robin DeLoria recounted Newcombe’s commitment to the site, the town and passengers over the years.

In March 2022, DeLoria said, the DEC told Newcombe he could no longer keep his horses and wagon at the Santanoni complex. After leasing land from the town, Newcombe eventually purchased it to continue providing his service at the Great Camp. Newcombe’s farm, in Whitehall, is about 70 miles southeast of Newcomb.

Adirondack Architectural Heritage, which partners with the DEC and the town to manage the Great Camp, was not aware the DEC would be requesting information for new horse teams, said its Executive Director Erin Tobin. When Tobin had tried to talk to the department before about the wagon, she was told it was a contract issue.

Newcombe, Tobin said, “does a wonderful job. He knows a lot about the site. He cares a lot about the place and the people who ride his wagon and his horses.”

The DEC received more than 40 responses to its call for information, mostly in support of Newcombe and mostly critical of the latest wagon’s specifications.

There were a couple of draft horse operators interested in the job, but one backed off after learning about the cart: “(T)otally unsuitable for use by my team (oversized and overweight),” he wrote.

One commenter recalled the first wagon DEC purchased for Newcombe to use. Springs and the hydraulic ramp broke, the Newcomb resident said. “Talk about putting the cart before the horse with the newest wagon design,” she wrote.

Steven Engelhart, former executive director of AARCH who assisted with more than $3.5 million in restoration work at the site, said the DEC’s execution of its access policy “has been nothing short of abysmal.”

He called the new wagon “a complete boondoggle … In addition, the Department’s alterations to the site and buildings to accommodate this behemoth were also done with very little sensitivity and imagination. I urge the Department to go back to square one and do what it should have done years ago — consult with your partners, talk to people who really know about such things.”

Tobin and DeLoria, too, would prefer a meeting with the state and other stakeholders to figure out a solution.

Motorized access?

Some people want the state to allow electric bikes and carts to provide access to the camp.

Jason Thurston, chairman of the DEC and Adirondack Park Agency’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, said “there have been many failed attempts to find another vendor to provide horses and the service.” Thurston suggested an exception to forest preserve rules allowing for restricted motorized vehicle use via a special permit, or an electric vehicle that could transport wheelchairs.

Remington would also like to see motorized access for people with disabilities.

Thurston uses a power wheelchair. “I should be able to see this state-owned historical site,” he wrote. “Please find a way for those of us who use wheelchairs to see it for ourselves.”

Top photo: Santanoni Great Camp Newcomb lake Historic Preservation farm ADKs, Courtesy of NYSDEC

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