New York’s scenic Adirondack and Finger Lakes regions have a long and storied tradition of Great Camps. Beginning in the mid 18th century, to escape the heat and hullabaloo of city life, well-to-do merchants and nabobs from Manhattan and cities all across the eastern seaboard would decamp during the summer months to the lake-dotted mountains.
Hotels soon popped up to accommodate the burgeoning tourist trade and as the area attracted increasingly wealthy visitors with a yen for nature, those with the means to do so bought up large swathes of unspoiled and densely wooded lakefront property. At first, they set up rudimentary campsites. Then they built expansive compounds comprised of numerous lodges, cottages and boat houses.
Their remote locations made getting building supplies complicated, so locally sourced materials were used whenever possible. Hand-hewn logs, rocks and twigs were gathered from the site and imaginatively employed to create charming and often quite large structures that were intended to feel fashioned of and complementary to the surrounding landscape. Log construction, elaborate gable decoration, broad porches and massive stone fireplaces are hallmarks of the Great Camp style.
The birthplace of the Great Camp is along the shore of Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks. Begun in 1877 and built by William West Durant, whose family once owned half a million acres in the Adirondacks, Camp Pine Knot eventually encompassed about two dozen buildings, many connected by covered walkways.
On the eastern shore of Skaneateles Lake (pronounced “skinny-atlas”), one of the easternmost of the 11 finger lakes, however, lies a multi-structure compound that eschews the traditional style and huge proportions of the historic Great Camps in favor of a far more urbane, manageably sized and expertly crafted minimalism. Newly listed at $8.9 million, the modern-day camp is available through Jack Richardson and Nathan Grome of SERHANT in collaboration with Kelli Ide and Michael DeRosa of Michael DeRosa Exchange.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Marketing material indicates there are four bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms across the property’s four wood-clad structures that combined span just over 4,000 square feet. Tax records show the 1.7-acre spread is owned by James H.F. Pulaski, a former gas and energy specialist with Tudor Investment Corporation.
The bulk of the property was acquired in 2011 for $750,000, while a smaller parcel was acquired in 2017 for another $440,000. Set on a rise just above the lake, the main house dates to the 1960s but, like every other inch of the property, has been expensively transformed into a low-key yet high-style compound discreetly jam-packed with all the comforts and conveniences of a luxury home.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC At the end of the long driveway, which cuts across a lush carpet of rolling lawn, the main house sits on a slight rise that allows it unimpeded western views up, down and across the three-quarter-mile wide and 16-mile long lake.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC A huge vintage brick fireplace anchors the combination living and dining area, while walls of glass provide a cinematic sweep over the slender lake.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Glass rails along the deck of the main house allow for uninterrupted views over the pristine water.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Arranged around a large island, the kitchen is open to the living and dining space.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC On the upper floor, the main bedroom features dark-wood built-ins and a crisply rendered bath.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Downstairs, a cozy den with another vintage-brick fireplace and more dark-wood built-ins is flanked by a couple of bedrooms. Each of the rooms opens to a terrace above the shoreline.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC The detached and over-sized two-car garage provides plenty of storage of seasonal water toys.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Atop the garage, a one-bedroom and one-bathroom apartment is partly kitted out as a gym/pilates studio.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Surrounded by decking and built out over the water, a former boathouse has been repurposed into a serene waterside retreat and home office.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC The self-contained space includes a spacious lounge, a full kitchen, a bathroom and a sleeping loft.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Both the built-in fire pit and the spa are positioned for optimal sunset viewing.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Near the front of the property, a tennis court was converted to a faux-turfed paddle ball court.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC The property’s undulating lawns roll down to the compound’s 185 feet of shoreline, where a serpentine boardwalk connects the dock to the boathouse retreat.
Though the compound is by far the most expensive property currently on the market along the shore of Lake Skaneateles, even if it sells for the full asking price it won’t even come close breaking the record for the most expensive house sold in the area. That distinction goes to the $13.1 million Syracuse businessman Bruce Kenan took in when he sold his lavish six-acre lake-side spread in 2021 to his next-door neighbor, scrap metal magnate Adam Weitsman.
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Image Credit: Michael DeRosa Exchange, LLC Pulaski, who may or may not be a descendant of the 18th-century general after whom northern New Jersey’s oft-maligned Pulaski Skyway is named, is no stranger to impressive waterfront properties or the property gossip columns. Early in 2021 he took in almost $17.7 million on the sale of a waterfront estate along Miami Beach’s prestigious N. Bay Road, and right about the same time plunked down $12.2 million for a 4,100-square-foot condo at Apogee, a luxury high-rise that overlooks Government Cut at the southern tip of South Beach.