On September 23, the National Park Service announced the latest round of grant funding under its Save America’s Treasures program and Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH), the private nonprofit historic preservation organization for the Adirondack region, received an award of $370,000 for conservation and restoration work at Camp Santanoni in the Essex County town of Newcomb.

This was one of only nine historic building conservation grants awarded nationally in this round, according to an announcement made by AARCH.

These grants are awarded by Congress through the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The Save America’s Treasures program is funded through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), which uses revenue from federal oil leases to fund a variety of cultural preservation projects without expending tax dollars.

The grant to Adirondack Architectural Heritage will be matched by an equal amount of funding from the other Camp Santanoni partners – the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Town of Newcomb, and the Friends of Camp Santanoni.

The grant is expected to be used to undertake several exterior conservation projects at Santanoni’s Main Lodge, including foundation stabilization, log replacement, masonry repairs and flashing, and the installation of entirely new wood shingle roof for the building’s 15,000 square foot roof.

“When the current asphalt shingle roof was installed on Santanoni’s Main Lodge about 20 years ago, the unit management plan for the camp had not been adopted nor had it been designated as Historic under the Adirondack State land Master Plan, so we could only take the project so far. Now were are in a position to more fully remediate and restore these important features of the Main Lodge” according to Adirondack Architectural Heritage Executive Director Steven Engelhart.

Camp Santanoni was built beginning in 1893 for Robert and Anna Pruyn of Albany and eventually consisted of 12,900 acres and more than four dozen structures, including a large working farm and a main lodge designed by architect Robert Robertson, which was inspired by the Pruyn’s interest in Japan. Santanoni was acquired by New York State in 1972 and is the only Great Camp in state ownership. It is managed by the Department of Environmental Conservation with substantial help, since 1997, from Adirondack Architectural Heritage. It is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

For more information about Adirondack Architectural Heritage, Camp Santanoni, the Camp Santanoni partnership, this grant and the project it will fund, contact Steven Engelhart, Executive Director, Adirondack Architectural Heritage, at (518) 834-9328 or email steven@aarch.org.