The first project Kevin and I tackled was not very glamorous or particularly historic,
even, but it was much needed. It was also a good beginner project, as it was in the
Gate Lodge where we were staying rather than a one-mile bike ride to the farm or
a five-mile ride to main camp. Most of the Gate Lodge today is used as private
quarters for AARCH and DEC staff, which included Kevin and myself as well as
three Assistant Forest Rangers (AFRs). One room, however, is used as a small
visitor’s center and gift shop. This was in quite shoddy condition when we arrived.
As we came to realize later on, main camp projects often take priority over any other
part of the historic area. The photo below on the left is of the walls after scraping loose
paint off, which paints quite a picture of the room’s weariness. After a very severe
cleaning and repainting, the visitor’s center was much happier and our spirits were
bolstered by the satisfaction of finishing a project.
We had a large amount of freedom in what we could choose to pursue in regards
to both projects to work on and interpretive topics. There were about two and a
half weeks between when we arrived and when tour season started, which we
definitely needed in order to become oriented with everything and develop a tour
outline. Kevin had some familiarity with both Santanoni and the larger history of the
Adirondacks and New York state, but I had no background knowledge in any of that.
In hindsight, I really began to get my footing right before the internship ended–the entire
summer was spent learning more and more about Santanoni and how it fit inside broader
stories. As long as we covered the basics in our tours (largely the history of its creation,
its ownership, and its preservation), we could delve deeper into different themes that we
had particular interest in. I found myself drawn to the site’s connection to women’s history,
as matriarch of the original owning family Anna Pruyn (pronounced “Prine”) encouraged
women to be outdoorsmen and led by example at a time when that was not particularly
common. Additionally, Anna and husband Robert’s young cousin Hiebertie Pruyn was a
rebellious and energetic teenager who wore bloomers on trips to Santanoni much to her
mother’s chagrin, who was an anti-suffragist leader back home in Albany. Kevin gave what
he semi-jokingly called “the plumbing tour,” as he has a much more engineering-focused
mind than I do and knew what all the different pressure tanks about the house were for.
After tour season began, we were both out at main camp essentially every day we were
working. This was for logistical reasons (being able to switch off who gave the tour, as there
were three offered every day) as well as safety reasons. Being five miles into the backcountry,
we had no cell service and had to rely on the radios we carried in the case of an emergency.
During both our radio training from the rangers and our wilderness first aid training, we were
instructed in a way that realistically relied on both of us being together. It was also beneficial
to have each other in close proximity in case we needed to ask the other a question or brainstorm
to come up with projects or solutions to problems.
This being the case, most of the projects we did after tour season began involved window work,
re-staining wooden building exteriors, or other independent projects that could be worked on out
at main camp. As a carpenter, Kevin took to building various pieces of outdoor furniture out of
unused lumber, including two Adirondack chairs that were the talk of the town within our little
Santanoni community. While the interiors of the complex were unfurnished and nearly empty
barring a few historical pieces, there was one cabin with historical photos nailed to the wall.
Seeing that the photos were largely unorganized, I took it upon myself to take them down,
reorganize them by chronology and theme, correct and add detail to a number of the attached
captions, and re-hang them. Below to the left is the result. The tree stump timeline was a project
that had been done by previous summer staff, which I moved from its former location out on the
porch to inside the photo cabin so visitors could reference both at the same time.
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