Steinways in the Adirondacks

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By the late nineteenth century, the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York State had become a wilderness vacation playground for wealthy residents of industrializing cities to the south, many of them from New York City. William Steinway and his family joined this exodus. This is their story, in the context of the story of the mountains.

The Adirondack Mountains form a 160 mile wide circular dome. This dome emerged relatively recently, some five million years ago, though it consists of rocks that are much older, prompting the characterization that these are "new mountains from old rocks." More recently, glaciers shaped the mountains, rivers, streams, lakes and ponds that we know today. Native Americans fished and hunted in the area for thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. Important battles were fought there during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, notably those at Ticonderoga and Saratoga. The advent of iron mining with the discovery of rich ore deposits late in the 18th century together with logging for the timber, tanning, paper and charcoal industries led to an accelerated exploitation of Adirondack soil and woodlands, and, beginning after 1850, to growing concern about the destructive effects of these activities and to calls for preservation of the wilderness. In the 1880's, the New York State legislature withdrew state lands from sale and established a Forest Preserve, and in 1892 it created the Adirondack Park, eventually to encompass nearly six million acres and dedicated “to be forever reserved for the free use of all the people.”(6)(9)(10)(16)

As these developments occurred, the Adirondacks increasingly became a vacation haven for the well-to-do to escape the polluted atmosphere of the industrializing cities, principally New York but others as well. As railroads and improved roads facilitated this movement, hotels, camps, inns and guide services sprang up in the wilderness. Perhaps most notably, the super-rich, including J. P. Morgan, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers began to build their fashionable and luxurious "Great Camps," each comprising multiple buildings and requiring a large staff to operate. Eventually, there were to be more than 40 of these Adirondack "camps."(4)(7)

The Steinway family found its way to the Adirondacks at least three times, though the first two, in 1886 and 1887, apparently were without William.(Diary, 1886-08-15, 1886-0823, 1887-08-05, 1887-09-03) The third visit, in 1891, was described more extensively in William's Diary. Included in the vacationing group, as reported by William, were fourteen persons: William, wife Ellie, their three children (Willie, 9, Theodore, 7,and Maud, 2 (Diary, 1881-12-20, 1883-10-06, 1889-04-06), Paula (William's daughter by his first marriage), Louis von Bernuth (Paula's husband), Paula's daughter Meta (nine months younger than Maud) (Diary, 1890-0110), friends Mrs. J. Otto Toussaint and her daughter Lillie, and four nurses or maids. (Diary, 1891-07-31)

Departing New York's Grand Central Depot (opened in 1871) the morning of July 31, and with a change of cars at Saratoga, the group made its way by train to Riverside (actually Riparius, the name having been changed by the Post Office Department in 1886 to avoid confusion with other Riversides in the state).(5) They completed the trip by carriage to Pottersville and then to the Watch Rock Hotel on the east side of Schroon Lake. This trip of nearly ten hours and involving three changes of conveyance, would today take some four hours by automobile via Interstate 87.(Diary, 1891-07-31)(1)(3)(8)(12)(15, pp. 180181, 189)(16)

Schroon Lake, described by William as "beautiful, and fringed with lofty mountains,"(Diary, 1891-07-31) is one of the larger Adirondack lakes, some ten miles in length and two in width. One of the lower Adirondack lakes, its elevation of just 830 feet above sea level makes it more than twice as high as Lake George, but much less than half as high as lakes more to the west and north. It lies near the south-eastern border of Adirondack Park, some 20 miles west of Lake George, and is surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains that rise just a few hundred feet above lake level.(1)(2) By the 1880s, Schroon Lake had become very popular as a vacation retreat for city people, with several large and luxurious hotels built along its shores. The Steinway's choice, Watch Rock Hotel, said by The New York Times to be "a delightful resort for the best class of tourists,"(13) was located near the midpoint of the eastern shore, near the village of Adirondack. Springs on the hotel grounds were said to attract "many persons troubled with indigestion or with diseases of the bladder, liver, or kidneys."(13) Though the hotel offered accommodations for up to 125 persons, the Steinways chose instead to stay in a five-room cottage near the hotel. Upon arrival, they were met by William's attorney, George Cotterill, and by J. J. Freedman, judge of the Superior Court.(Diary, 1891-07-31)(11)(13)(15, pp. 182-185)

The day after their arrival, the Steinway group met at the "beautiful" Cotterill cottage for some singing, noteworthy due to the "fine voice" of Mrs. Young, soprano at St. Paul's, then all rode on the steam yacht of Watch Rock's proprietor, George Cecil, to the village of Schroon at the northern end of the lake. There, they walked to the Leland House, said to be "the leading hotel of Schroon Lake,"(15, p. 183) and the largest, with a capacity of 300. William got a shave there, after which fish chowder was enjoyed at the Cotterill cottage, and all returned to the hotel for more singing, including a rendition of "Jim, Joseph and John" by William, and they listened to reminiscences offered by Mr. Loomis, an "old Vermont boy." (Diary, 1891-08-01)

The next afternoon, the Steinways drove to Judge Freedman's cottage, where William walked the grounds with the judge, viewed a riding exhibition, and had a "jolly" dinner, marked by William's "speeches and witty remarks" that kept them "all in a roar." William also ate some bean salad. Then they returned to the hotel for more singing, including hymns and several solos by William, and William sat out in the "cool mountain air." (Diary, 1891-08-02)

The next day, August 3, was taken up with William's return to New York via Pottersville, "Riverside," Saratoga and Troy, joined by the Rasmus and Hoppenstedt families for part of the journey. He suffered all day from back pain, which he attributed to lumbago exacerbated by riding in carriages over cobblestones. ("Lumbago," a general term used to describe mild to severe lower back pain, is now largely obsolete, having been replaced by more precise diagnoses.) (Diary, 1891-08-03)(5)(14)

The rest of the family stayed in the Adirondacks until September 2 (Diary, 1891-09-02), but with William back in New York their activity received only sketchy coverage in his Diary. He did find a few events worthy of note:

On August 15, William reported that "My wife and Paula have been on the warpath agt each other on acct of the servants at Watch Rock Hotel, Adirondacks," but the cause of this disagreement is unknown. (Diary, 1891-08-15)

On the 16th , the occasion of their eleventh wedding anniversary, Ellie and William toasted one another at a distance with champagne. (Diary, 1891-08-16)

Later that night, William learned from his son-in-law in New York that daughter Meta, still at Schroon Lake, had swallowed a gold pin. Her father left the next morning for the Adirondacks (when he had come back to New York is unclear). On the 18th William received word that Meta had passed the pin and was unharmed. Louis von Bernuth then returned to New York again on August 22.(Diary, 1891-08-16, 1891-08-17, 1891-08-18, 1891-08-22)

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