NEWS AND NOTES ON ADIRONDACK PHILOSOPHY
Philosophers' Camp Protected (Oct 2008)
New York Times: "A 14,600-acre piece of the Adirondacks long prized by environmentalists for its forests and wetlands, including a pond where Ralph Waldo Emerson led a 'philosophers’ camp,'
was purchased on Thursday by a preservation group for $16 million, the group said." Read more. See the painting by William James Stillman of the "philosopher's camp" at the CPR home page.
Cross-cut Philosopher (September 2008)
Below is a photo of a plaque I saw at the Ranger School at Wanakena on Cranberry Lake:
It reads: "In affectionate memory of H.W. "Cy" Lawson of Wiggins, Miss. Friend, Philosopher and Teacher. Near this location, from 1934 to 1953 he guided Ranger School students in the care and use of cross-cut saws". Now that is Adirondack philosophy.
Finding Dewey? Sort of (August 2008)
This summer my family and I drove over to the (gorgeous) Keene Valley in the High Peaks region of the eastern Adirondacks to try to find the property where Thomas Davidson hosted his Glenmore School for Culture Sciences near the turn of the 20th century. His summer philosophy school on the western slopes of Mt. Hurricane brought in William James, John Dewey, Charles Peirce, Josiah Royce, and others to lecture. James owned a camp nearby, and Dewey built himself a cottage across Gulf Brook from Glenmore. Felix Adler, Columbia philosophy professor and co-founder of the Society for Ethical Culture, also had a camp nearby. For about 15 years from 1890-1904 there was no better place to be for summer philosophy.
What did we find at Glenmore in 2008? Mainly, a mailbox, but also a driveway with a chain across it that looked promising as the way up to the mountain farm where Davidson had his school. A little more research next time may get us a little further in. It's a shame that there was no plaque commemorating the school, or Dewey's residence, as far as we could tell.
Blue Cranberry (August 2008)
An especially nice photograph of Cranberry Lake by Eleanor Taylor at CPR2008.
